The War That Was Too Soon
by Deaths.RoseXo
Summary: Year: 2453. Alexia is a young ex-soldier who happens to run into a particular Doctor. It is up to these two to not only stop a Nuclear war that comes to the Earth a bit ahead of schedule. 10th Doctor X OC.
1. The Crystal of Trust

_**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia and the plot are mine._

"Who are you affiliated with?" I hiss in the man's ear once he steps out of the blue crate, some sort of historic phone box. When the thing appeared out of thin air, I jumped out of my look-out tree and landed on top of it, waiting for something to come out. This man walked out and I landed behind him with a dagger to his throat.

"Hello, it's quite lovely to meet you." He has a strangely cheerful voice with a British accent.

"Who ever you are, your squadron isn't here. You're all alone. Now tell me, who are you and who are you allied with?"

"Well, down to the business, yeah? I'm the Doctor. But can you tell me, what day is it?" His upbeat demeanor is beginning to irritate me. His question catches me off guard for a split second but that's all he needs to escape from my grasp and disarm me. I look him dead in the eyes; if he's going to kill me than he's going to have to fall asleep every night being haunted by my stare. Instead he throws it to the side. Apparently, this war is going to be taking prisoners.

"Weapons. Disgusting things, really." The man mumbles, mostly to himself.

"I will not be you prisoner." I spit defiantly. "I will not join your army. When your troops arrive, you might as well have them shoot me down. I will not aid in the destruction of this planet!"

"Destruction of the planet?" He pauses for a moment, seeming to be in deep thought. "You never told me, what day is it?"

"I-I don't know. I've been out here for a while, maybe a few months. I think it might be April."

"And what's the year?" What kind of nut-job is this guy?

"2453. Who _are _you?"

"I told you, I'm the Doctor." He smiles as if that explains everything.

"The doctor? What's your name?"

"The Doctor."

"Doctor _Who?_" I demand, then curse myself for my loudness. I scan the surrounding woods for any sign of an attacker.

"Are you looking for something? Are you alright?" I spin around to him.

"Am I alright? The world is on the verge of a third world war, the country's power has been cut off, and I'm hiding in the middle of the woods. Yeah, everything's just fine." I snap at him.

"Third world war?" He looks as if this is news to him. "What did you say the year was?"

"2453."

The man's eyebrows knit together, either in worry or concentration. Maybe he doesn't know that I fled from the military and he isn't after me, hunting me down like a wild dog. In that case, I have certainly just made myself a target by talking to him.

"That's impossible. There shouldn't be a war here in another 20 years." Again, he's mumbling to himself.

"What are you talking about? Haven't you heard about any of this? China cut off our power supply along with our allies'. Now we only have primitive forms of communication and a half-defenseless military force. How can we wait another 20 years? There's only a few weeks at best before the countries open fire."

He looks up at these last few words with something close to fear in his eyes. Does he really not know about any of this? Who is this man?

"Where did you come from? How d-" I cut off when a nearby tree spontaneously goes up in flame. Shit, not again! "RUN!" I scream at the strange doctor and grab his arm, dragging him with me as I sprint through the forest, dodging trees and fallen logs.

"What is it? Why'd that just happen? " The man asks as he runs along side me. I'm surprised to see that he can keep pace with me.

"They set the trees up on fire." I manage between breaths.

"Who did?" I don't bother answering him. "Come with me, I know a safer place to go." He adds, yanking me the opposite way, back to the fire. I let go of him and pull away, but he just grabs my hand. Again, I flinch away. "Come on! Do you want to live or not?" We're both standing here, in the middle of the burning woods. I know that if I stay here debating over who should lead us out of this mess, we'll both be cooked alive. But if I go with him, I might be brought to a military base to be tortured. I decide to just follow him. Either way, my odds aren't in my favor, but if there's even a chance of safety then I'll take it.

"Okay." The doctor grabs my hand again and I fight the urge to tear my hand away from his.

We run back to the blue phone box, fighting our way through a cloud of smoke and ash, trying to find a path around the glowing embers and flames. The doctor opens the doors to the phone box and pulls me in after him. He closes the doors behind us. I forget to yell at him about how stupid it is to hide from fire in a wooden box because the inside is so enormous. There's a big blue column in the center surrounded by a series of buttons and gadgets of a control panel. Helplessly, I can only stare wide-eyed at it. Horror begins to claw it's way up my throat.

"Wh- How- but this is impossible!" I stammer. He brushes pass me to the central control station. "Wh- what are you?" I feel panic begin to work its way into the edges of my mind even though I try my best to fight it off.

"Okay, now, this is very important. Are you listening to me?" He walks back to me, his big brown eyes locked onto mine. I can only nod at him. "I need you to tell me everything that happened leading up to the country's loss of power." Trying to calm my breathing, I think back to the first days of things going astray.

"Well, tensions have been rising between China and the United Nation. We've been having an arms race to build the best nuclear weapons as fast as we could. Both countries where competing to be the most powerful. Then, one day, I was waken from the emergency alarms. Everyone in my unit all got dressed and we spilled out into the halls, trying to find our ways to our stations but it was so dark! None of the lights were working. I was to report to the general's meeting room. There was a few lights on. The military bases all had power, just a limited amount of it. We had to conserve. Lights were on only at the most vital work stations during the most critical of work hours. We had to eat, sleep, and bathe in darkness. My base was an underground facility. We've been trying to think of ways to slow down China's production line within the confines of the Peace Treaty of 2399." I explain.

"Was there anything else out of the ordinary? Before the arms race or before the loss of power?" He asks, and then I realize that this man may be a spy. Maybe he's trying to see what I'd be willing to tell the enemy.

"I- I can't say. I may not fight for my country by destroying it or its enemies, but I am not a traitor." I glare at him.

"I don't care! I don't care about the war! If you want to live and if you want this world to see the new generation, you have to tell me! I'm here to help." He begins to scream and I think that maybe his eyes will pop out of his skull. I shrink away from him.

"What can you do? You're only _one _person. Even if I help you, how can two simple humans stop a nuclear war!" My voice comes out harsh and ridged.

"Well, Sister Jane, I'm not human. I'm not from your world. I'm not even from your galaxy, for that matter." He lifts an eyebrow as if this intrigues him.

"Then where are you from?" I demand and clench my teeth. He looks deep into my green eyes.

"A place far way from here…. But tell me, do you remember anything out of the ordinary."

"No, nothing particularly…" I try to think back to the start of all this. "Well, there's some things, but they really don't mean much. It was probably just my imagination or something." Now I was the one beginning to ramble to myself.

"Anything can be useful. Tell me, what do you remember?"

"Well, before I was stationed at the underground base, before the arms race got too far underway, there was this sudden…_noise_, that never went away. Only it's not something that I could hear, exactly, it was more like a change in the air pressure, as if it was a frequency humans couldn't detect." The doctor looks at me and I can tell that this means something to him.

"A noise that wasn't a noise, yet a noise nonetheless." I'm not sure if he's talking to himself or me.

"There's something else, now that I think about it." He looks at me with such an intensity that I have to look way. "The sky is different. It's like the sun got duller, only just so slightly that it's almost impossible to tell. I only noticed it because I was outside and it was like a thin cloud floated under the sun, only there was no cloud."

"Oiy." He ran his fingers through his hair.

"What? Does that mean something to you?"

"Can you get me to this base you were working at?"

"I can get you close, but I can't get you in. I'd be making bait out of you." He looks at me questioningly. "I ran away. They are going to start a war! One that can devastate the entire planet! I would rather die than bring that about."

"That's understandable. Come on, then, we have some work to do you and I, Miss…?"

"Alexia."

When we exit the phone box, what the doctor explained as a "TARDIS", the woods hold no sign of ever being caught on fire. The Doctor took out a strange devise. He noticed me staring at it.

"Sonic screwdriver. Comes in quite useful. Does this always happen when the trees burn?"

"How'd you know that they've burned before?" I eye him suspiciously.

"You practically told me. You saw one tree catch on fire, and you knew. You knew to run."

"I don't know. I've always ran away from it. Never bothered to look back. I'm not a suicidal maniac." I look at him pointedly but he ignores it. He waves around his sonic-whatever and it makes some weird whirring sound.

"Hmm… I don't think that it's China that stole the power. In fact, I highly doubt they have any power themselves."

At this information, an image pops into my mind of Chinese officials gathering in a meeting room, speaking of the ways to get revenge on the United Nation for hacking into their power grid. I shove the image away, one of many visions that I've had my whole life. I look up at the doctor as he looks up at the same time, his face mirroring my own as if he had seen the same thing I just did.

"They think that we stole their power." I say. There's a beat of silence before he says "Perhaps."

"Not perhaps, I _know_ they do. And they're planning an attack." His eyes ask an unspoken question.

"We better get moving."

It's a three day journey to the base, at best. We hike along in the woods, mostly in silence which is just fine by me; I like being able to hear the world around me.

"Always on alert, you are." The doctor observes.

"It's what keeps me alive, Doctor."

Again, we plunge into a steady silence until he finally breaks it again. "Is there any water about? I'm dying for a drink."

I know where every river and lake is between our location and the base, so I lead him to a nearby stream. "You drink first. I'll stay on look-out." Once he's done drinking, I take a turn. "Just stand very still and listen to any sign of trouble." I order him.

"Tell me, is it really necessary to be carrying all that metal? Must weigh a ton, that lot." He asks after I get a few handfuls of water; he's referring to the vast array of swords sheathed to my belt. Weapons clearly made him uneasy. I could only imagine his reaction of seeing the daggers that lined the inside of my jacket. With that thought, my mind focuses onto a vision of just that:

_I unzip my jacket, glancing over the equipment with speed, trying to determine the best blade for the job. There's a sudden intake of breath beside me; the Doctor, though he doesn't look surprised by this at all. What a strange man he is; like he knows everything yet still is affected by what he sees-_

The vision changes half way through:

_I'm crouched by the creek as the Doctor stands over me, watching the woods with an untrained eye. I hear them approach, but too late. A twig snaps behind us. A gun is cocked._

"_RUN, DOCTOR!" I scream, but not soon enough._

I snap out of the vision.

"We need to go, NOW!" I grab the doctors arm and take off with him. Up ahead there's a tree that looks simple enough for a novice to climb. "Up the tree. Hurry." I push him towards it. He doesn't question me, just complies. "As high as you can make it." I order, following closely. We perch up high in the branches, the full leaves creating a perfect camouflage. I press my index finger to my lips, demanding silence.

After about ten, painfully long minutes, a squadron of troops runs by below us, guns in hand. They scatter out, scanning the area thoroughly. The doctor stares at me, another question neither of us puts into words. I pull out a pair of tiny binoculars that are secured to my belt and take a glance around. There are no more soldiers hiding anywhere else. All we have to do is wait out for this troop to go back and we could be on our way.

When they are gone, we scale back down the tree.

"You knew, didn't you?" The doctor asks.

"There are a lot of things that I know, Doctor." I say, only he doesn't understand just how true that statement is.

A few nights later and we're just feet from the entrance of the base. It took us only two days to reach the bunker.

"Now all we have to do is get inside to scan their maps to see where the main support of the power grid is, since you don't know what city it is in." The doctor runs over the plan for the hundredth time. I have to admit that I admire his thoroughness, only there's one part of what he says that is wrong.

"Not we, _you._ I can't go in there."

"But you need to. You know the layout of this bunker like the back of your hand, plus you know the security codes which will work a lot faster than my screwdriver."

"How? How are you going to get me into that place? It will never work."

He reaches out and grabs the handcuffs attached to my belt. "It will if we use these." I study him, analyze his face for any sign of deception, but for some reason, deep within my bones, I trust him. As irrational and psychotic as it may be, it is still there, a tiny gleaming crystal of trust. I hand him the cuffs and turn around so he can clip them into place.

"Ready, Alexia?" He asks; I nod my head _yes._


	2. Security Breach& a Little too Much Power

**_DISCLAIMER: _**I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia and the plot are mine.

**Author's Note:** Please REVIEW! xD Reviews = a happy author.

**Chapter 2: _Security Breach and a Little too Much Power_**

We get into the base with surprising ease. The Doctor has some kind of "psychic" paper that allows us to pass the guards without question. We say that I'm his prisoner, someone he found wandering around in the general area. Once we get past the guard we go though a doorway that opens to a flight of stairs. The guard closes the door behind us, leaving us in the dark.

"There's ten steps." I whisper.

At the bottom of the staircase, the doctor takes over, seemingly knowing where he is and where he's going. Panic begins to edge its way into my chest. If he knows where to go, then maybe he works here, which would mean that I'm in a great deal of trouble. But if that was so, then why did he let me keep the key to the hand cuffs in my back pocket, "In case anything goes wrong," he explained. Perhaps _he_ is the traitor. Now is not the time to start that conversation, though.

We manage to get past more armed guards with the same ease as we did with the first. It takes a while of navigating through the dark corridors to find the room we're looking for. Along the way, I whistle a simple tune, one that allows others to know that someone else is in the hallway, a system created by the bunker when we first lost power so that we wouldn't slam into each other blindly. The tune I whistled was one that meant to stay out of the way as we passed. It could mean anything from holding a prisoner to carrying a barrel of toxic chemicals. The doctor doesn't ask me what I'm doing or why and I don't offer the information.

Finally, at long last, we reach the Planned Operations room, where all the most critical maps are. Among ordinary road maps there are also maps of the underground tunnels created for the civilians to take refuge in once their city was threatened. As far as I understood, the citizens we already evacuated from the major cities. With the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor unlocked my cuffs so that I could help him find the maps we needed.

Apparently, the access codes where changed because none of the ones I enter work. There is a five day cycle, a different code everyday, with five codes to choose from. After entering the fifth unsuccessful code, I know I have to figure something out and quick or else the base's security headquarters is going to be notified. Thankfully, the computer screen gives off enough light to illuminate a majority of the room.

I unzip my jacket, glancing over the equipment with speed, trying to determine the best blade for the job. There's a sudden intake of breath beside me; the Doctor, though he doesn't look surprised by this at all. What a strange man he is; like he knows everything yet is still affected by what he sees. I try to ignore him while I analyze the capabilities of each blade, which doesn't take long; I know them each by heart.

"Is all that really necessary?" The doctor asks with a look of disgust etched into his fine features.

"It's more of a hobby, more for intimidation than anything else. Just a collection." I say absentmindedly as I slide a narrow blade from its sheath.

I kneel down next to the control panel of the computer that wouldn't allow me into its database and use the dagger to cut through to the internal wires.

"Come on, hurry up!" the Doctor urges before I plunge into a vision.

_I'm cutting the wires of the computer, trying to hack into the system. Suddenly, I hear footsteps approaching. They're too close. We don't have time to run! I look down at the wires in my hand. Blue and yellow. I took to long to choose, even though these are the right wires. My stalling alerted security about us! Emergency alarms start blaring.  
_"_Alexia! We need to go!" the Doctor yells at me. Too late. Guards are at the door. One of them shoots-  
_

__The sharp, phantom pain snaps me out of my vision. I hear distant footsteps and my hearts (some strange mutation gave me two hearts, one on either side of my chest) start pounding. At least I know what wires I need.

"Blue and yellow! You need blue and yellow!" The doctor whispers, panic beginning to strain his voice.

I snatch the blue and yellow wires that match the ones in my vision. With the dagger, I cut, strip, and combine them. The computer beeps and I'm in. The footsteps in the hall fade away, going down another corridor and fading away.

"How did you know it was blue and yellow?" I ask the doctor. The way I'm kneeling blocks his view of the wires.

"I know a lot of things," he simply replies, his words echoing the ones I spoke earlier. "Tons of thing, in fact. But perhaps too many things, if that is at all possible" He began to ramble on to himself. This is something he does quite often, I notice.

I glance at him while the computer gathers all the information and maps that I requested. My belt is strapped around his waist, looking out of place on him. He holds out his arms awkwardly, trying not to touch the twin swords sheathed to either side of him. As he pointed out, it wouldn't make much sense for a prisoner to walk into a military base armed, so I, grudgingly, agreed to let him take my belt.

"Look at you, a nice little soldier." I tease him, trying my hardest not to laugh.

"I am many things, but I assure you that I am _not_ a soldier. I hate fighting. Fighting leads to unnecessary death. I try to save lives, not destroy them." He gets defensive.

"Yeah, my grandpa thought the same way." Memories of my Papa threaten to flood my mind and I turn away from the Doctor so that he can't see the tears I'm battling to hold back. Thankfully, the computer beeps again, the maps scanned and ready to be retrieved, giving a good excuse to end the conversation. "All done." I say and walk over to him and remove the virtual map-reader from the belt, plug it in and download the new maps.

"A computer of this sort takes up an awfully large amount of energy." the Doctor says quietly, almost as if to himself, and again I don't if it's something meant for my ears.

"The bases have very little power. We had to route it all to the most essential machinery, sacrificing everything else, like the lighting and shower panels. We basically had to go back to the dark ages, heating water over fires and stumbling around in the dark. This computer is one of the most important. We had to keep it functional." I explain while the maps download.

"Yes, but this computer requires such a large amount of energy, enough to run a small town." He says and for some reason I feel like I have to defend the officials that made the choice to keep this computer online.

"They needed to keep this computer running! It not only holds maps, it alerts of any security breaches in the city tunnels, shows locations of the troops above ground, and helps to organize evacuations and shows the quickest routes to and from any given location." I'm barely able to keep my voice down. Something about his words got under my skin.

"No, that's not what I meant. Let's get that map downloaded and get out of here. We need to find a power plant. Something doesn't seem right." The computer beeps again once he's done talking. I grab the virtual map-reader and put it back in place on my belt. Now we have to find a way to get out of here.

"Here, put this on." I hand the doctor a pair of sunglasses from the belt and take another pair from the inside of my jacket.

"Sunglasses might not be much, but it's better than nothing." I say before leading the way out the door. The doctor grabs my hand but I pull away, only to have him grab it again. Fighting the urge to pull away again, I lead us though the dark hallway, whistling a tune for those who are on break.

The closer we get to the exit, the harder my hearts pound. Suddenly it occurs to me how foolish and dangerous this attempt was, but I force the thought away. The mission is almost complete. Somehow we managed to get this far without a hitch. Outside there is a different guard on duty. Perfect, just as planned. I knew the schedule shifts and was able to estimate the time accurately enough, by the position of the sun, so that we would enter and exit with a different guard.

"Report." The guard demands and the doctor shows him the psychic paper.

"I can't believe we did it!" I gush once we're far enough into the woods to not be seen. In the corner of my eye I catch the Doctor looking at me and turn to him. His chocolate eyes meet mine and I find myself smiling brightly at him. It's then that I realize our hands are still clasped together. I blush and pull my hand away.

"Yes, you were absolutely brilliant with those wires! I though we were going to be caught, but you did it. You pulled it off." I still feel his eyes on me but I don't turn to meet his gaze.

"What do we do now? It's at least a week's walk to the closest power plant."

"We go back the TARDIS... That is.. if we can find it." A look of total devastation floods across his face.


	3. Power Tower and a Dream

**_DISCLAIMER_**: I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia and the plot are mine.

**_Author's Note:_ **I will try to get up a new chapter every day but with school back from Spring break it will be kind of hard.  
Reviews make happy authors! Feel free to give any constructive comments/suggestions!

**Review Replies:**  
**TrashedAndScatteredSidewinder:** Thanks for reading! This fanfiction will only have the 10th Doctor, no "Matt Smith nonsense." lol. I'm glad you're enjoying it thus far! xD

**_Chapter 3: Power Tower and a Dream _**

"Only two days after getting the maps I find myself wandering the empty streets of Baltimore with the Doctor by my side.

"Amazing. There's not one person about, not one store open." I say, the awe heavy in my voice.

"Already evacuated?"

"Yeah, once the power went out, citizens were evacuated from the large cities. Safety protocol." The street has some cars parked here and there and the large, vacant buildings tower over us. "There are drills at least once every year to make sure everything runs smoothly, to work out the kinks."

"Lovely city, really. Third or fourth?" The Doctor asks, looking up at the sky.

"Fourth. There are going to be six in total, right?" I ask, seeing the city being rebuilt again and again in my mind's eye. The doctor looks at me.

"Yes, six in all. Each one build upon the ashes of the last. How did you know?"

"Like I said, I know a lot of things." This was being to become a common phrase between the two of us, one that says everything yet nothing at all. "But, one thing I don't know is how the TARDIS can bring us from city to city? I thought it was a time machine?" The Doctor chuckles at this.

"Your thinking is very human. You think only two-dimensionally. Backwards and forwards, but not side to side. The TARDIS can go anywhere during anytime." He explains.

"Right! Time _and _Relative Dimension In _Space! _I understand now, well the whole name part, anyway. You're going to have a lot to teach me, Doctor." I say before I realize that this means that I'd have to spend a lot more time with him. For the first time since I first collided with him, that doesn't send an unpleasant shiver down my spine. I push the thought away. There were more important things then physics lessons, like figuring out what exactly happened to the power grid. "So, how are you going to be able to tell if aliens had anything to do with the loss of power?"

"The sonic screwdriver. It can detect alien technologies. Who would have ever guessed how useful such a thing can be. Always can find a use for it, much more use than a weapon, for sure." Again with the babbling.

"You're rambling." I snap at him.

"Yes, I suppose I am." Suddenly I ask the one question that's been weighing on my mind since he told me he wasn't from this world.

"How come you're British?" Not the most important question, but one that's come to me often.

"British? I'm not British."

"You sound like it."

"Well, a language is a language. It just depends on how words are pronounced to define a region of origin, but that doesn't hold true for everyone. I happen to pronounce words the way a British man might, but does that mean I'm British?" I ponder over this a while.

"No, I suppose not." I allow.

An eerie stillness settles over the city, the kind you feel when you know that you're being watched. I stopped walking, my spine pricking and the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge. Just as suddenly as the sensation arrives, its gone, no trace of it ever being there. I wait for a vision to come to me, to warn me of something, but it doesn't come. The Doctor notices my hesitation.

"What is it?"

"N-Nothing." I stammer.

"You sure?" He looks at me skeptically, but I ignore him and walk ahead of him. Taking out the virtual map-reader, I try to see if it shows any hint of what I just felt, but there's nothing. "Come on, the power plant is just around the corner, about a mile away."

We arrive at the gates of the power plant, two steel doors locking us out. I reach into my jacket and retrieve a narrow-bladed dagger and start to pick the lock.

"That's not necessary." The Doctor protests but I shush him before he can continue. Just because weapons make him piss his pants doesn't mean that I'm going through the trouble of climbing over the gate.

Awhile of jiggling the blade around in the lock, there's a satisfying click as the lock releases. I smile up at the Doctor.

"That was just a waste of time." He grumbles, making my smile crumble into a scowl.

"Fine, next time we'll do it your stupid way." I shoot back.

In front of us is a bunch of fenced off areas and separate buildings. Before a vision can even come to me to give me a clue where to start, the Doctor walks off. Clearly he knows what he's doing, or at least appears to.

"What are we looking for?" I ask as I follow closely behind him.

"The main source of the power line."

"I know _that. _I mean what does it look like?"

"I'll know it when I see it."

I grumble half to myself, beginning to get irritated with him, yet again. He always struts around like he knows everything, like he owns the place. I don't know if he's overly confident or just incredibly smart. Then again, I don't feel like taking the time to think about it; it's easier to just be annoyed by him.

It doesn't take him long to find what he's looking for. It's a tiny building with a locked door. He pulls out his screwdriver and holds it to the lock. It glows blue and lets out a strange whirring sound. A tiny click comes from the lock in not even a second. My mouth hangs open in amazement, but I hide it before he sees.

" Not so stupid, is it?"

I shrug and push past him.

Inside the building is a control room. The Doctor walks around looking at all the switches, pressing a few buttons on and off. "Curious. There doesn't seem to be anything malfunctioning in here. Perhaps it's the wires that transmit the power to the cities." He speaks his thoughts out loud and for the millionth time, I don't know if he's supposed to be talking to me or not.

Without notice he spins around and walks swiftly out the door without a word or glance in my direction. I find myself stumbling after him. "What are you doing now?"

"If the controls are operating efficiently, which they are, then there power is being generated. The problem has to be the flow of electricity."

We enter another locked area, surrounded by a chain link fence. Inside is the base of a massive tower. The Doctor flips open a control panel, clicking through the settings before taking out the screwdriver again. He scans the panel, his eyebrows knitted together in concentration. "The control panel is also working the way it should." He mutters and I have to lean closer to catch the words. After glaring at the panel for some time as if it's going to spill out secrets to him, he looks skyward.

"There must be something up there stopping the electricity." This time I know he's talking to me, or at least I believe he is.

"Want me climb up there and scan…something?" I ask.

"Are you mad? You can't climb up there!" He scoffs at me.

"I'm better at climbing than you are. Trust me, watching you scramble your way up that tree was painful at best."

"I didn't 'scramble' up the tree." He argues.

"Compared to _my_ grace, you looked like a cat trying to fly." I say back, though I keep my voice playful, I still mean every word of it.

"You don't know what to look for." This shuts me up because I know he's right.

"Just be careful."

With that he begins to make his way up the metal support beams. While I watch him, I think about what I said and know that I was wrong. He's not that terrible at climbing, not that I would admit it to him.

"Oiy!" He yells after scanning something.

Just then, a vision comes to me.

_I look up at the Doctor as he begins to make a descent. The same eerie feeling of being watched washes over me. In the pit of my stomach, I know something bad is about to happen.  
_"_Hurry down, Doctor!" I yell up at him.  
_"_Patience is a virtue." He calls back.  
_"_Hurry!" I yell again, the urgency evident in my voice.  
__Just then, the Doctor lets out scream of pain before plummeting to the ground. I can only stare helplessly as I watch him fall. He lands with a sickening thud._

Once I snap out of my vision, I find myself scaling the support beam as quickly as my limbs will let me. I don't even realize what I'm doing until the Doctor yells at me.

"What are you doing? Don't you know how dangerous this is?" He snaps at me. Ignoring him, I reach out and get a firm grip on his arm. I look deep into his eyes, eyes that hold secrets of past centuries and pain. The look on my face keeps him from questioning me any further.

"Thank you," he whispers as he looks away.

"Anything?" I ask once we reach terra firma, half not wanting to know the answer.

"There's something absorbing all the energy. Some thing powerful; alien. I don't know exactly what just yet. We have to get back to that forest. I think there will be answers burning in those fires."

We're walking down the street when my tummy starts to growl. I press my hand over my stomach to shut it up. In the past few days, all I've eaten were berries. I look around the street before pulling out my virtual map. Two blocks down is a hotel. No doubt it's empty.

"Let's get something to eat." I suggest. The Doctor doesn't refuse.

Inside, the hotel is empty as I suspected. We wander around some time before finding the kitchen.

"Wha-lah! A feast." I say, smiling. "Don't worry, it's not stealing. Once we finish, I'll leave some money on the counter with a note of what we took." I add.

"You have money?" He asks skeptically.

"Yes. I wanted to be prepared for any situation when I left the base. Otherwise I wouldn't have suggested that we eat something." I say, scanning the items in the fridge. I feel the Doctor's eyes on me and look at him. "What?"

"I just- It's just that you seem so…_fierce_… with everything you do." He manages to say.

"I may be a lot of things, Doctor, but I'm _not_ a thief." I glare at him.

We end up cooking two whole chickens and mixing a generous proportion of salad. Between the two of us, we clean everything down to the bones. I smile at him with a knowing look.

"Not used to eating on the run, are you?" My tone is unintentionally superior.

"Actually, yes I am." He meets my challenge. "What about you? You certainly eat a lot yourself."

"My body burns through a lot of energy, a lot more than a normal human's." I pause, debating whether or not I should tell him about my extra heart. I decide against it. I feel his gaze on me, waiting for me to complete my statement, but instead I look up at him with a blank face. "I'm tired. Will you unlock a room for me?"

Inside my room, I fill up the bath with lukewarm water, since there's no power to heat up the water. Before getting into the tub I take a glance in the mirror. A girl with unruly, dirty-blonde hair and amber eyes stares back at me. She's very thin, like she hasn't had a proper meal in a while, and her arms are defined but not masculine. She looks wild with her wide eyes and dirty, scratched up skin.

Seeing my reflection brings up a memory that seems to belong to someone else, yet I know it's somehow mine.

_Orange sky above me, foreign yet familiar. Explosions light up the sky. Rubble cascades around me like a shower of death and destruction. I hear-_

I yank myself away from the mirror, severing the link to the memory and tucking it away, far away from my consciousness. The images are so horrifying and I have no clue where they're coming from. Ever since I ran into the Doctor I've been having these visions of the past. They invade not only my waking thoughts at random, but also my dreams are beginning to become tortured with them.


	4. Horror City

**_DISCLAIMER:_** I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia and the plot are mine!

_**Author's Note**_: There are some weird names towards the end. Puiule is pronounced Poo-yoo-lei, and Siouhlll is pronounced "Soul".

Review Replies:  
**TrashedAndScatteredSidewinder/F.R.:** I'm so happy that you're enjoying it. And it's okay about the double post, haha, but I don't think your sonic screwdriver-pen worked! ): Maybe you should check to see if it's still operating correctly? Lol.  
**BlueEyedDreamer97/Kris:** Damn, you're pretty good! Haha. Yes, Alexia is a Time Lord/Lady, only she doesn't know it, well more like remember it. I'm glad that you're enjoying it as well! I'll try to update as much as possible. :)  
**RandomHandsome: **Aw, thanks! I reread and rewrite a lot. haha. And I will keep typing away! xD

**Chapter 4: Horror City **

Laying on my back with the stark-white ceiling staring back at me, I find it impossible to sleep. Insomnia keeps me from sleeping much anyway; I only ever slept half as much as everyone else did in boot camp. Funny thing is, I was always the first one to finish the drills and the least worn out by the end of the day. I often find myself thinking about that, trying to make sense of it, but never can.

I toss and turn, trying to find a comfortable position. After nearly a month of sleeping in caves and high up in tree branches, a normal bed feels almost _too _comfortable— so luxurious that it's actually _un_comfortable and hurts my spine. With nothing better to do, I find my mind wandering over the past few days; over the fire in the woods, and the military base. Also, I think vaguely of the nightmarish memories that keep resurfacing, but they're so horrible that I shove them away and lock them into a dark corner of my mind before I can make any sense of them.

Somehow, my mind eventually falls upon the Doctor. Why does he get under my skin so much? And, there's something so familiar about him, like a knowledge, an understanding, deep within my bones, but it's so far away that I can't quite see it clearly. He says that he's from another world, another galaxy, but he looks as human as anyone. Deep down, I know that he really isn't human despite how much I try to convince myself that he is. _He's just some guy from the future that's making a joke of my ignorance, _I try telling myself, but I know it's a lie. _How_ do I know it's a lie though? There has to be some reason... right?

Not liking where my thoughts are going, I roll out of the bed. Aimlessly, I walk the halls for hours, fighting to fend off the intruding thoughts, fighting to keep my mind blank. It's futile effort. After some time, I find myself in the hotel's bar, thinking of my grandpa. Papa was always there for me. Never did he shy away from telling me the truth, and no matter what, he always supported me. That is, before a stranger decided to take him away from me in the form of three bullets, aimed straight for his chest. From that day on, I vowed to never let myself love someone like that again; to never to get attached again. What's the point? All that love is, is cruel and unfair.

I hoist myself into a bar stood and absentmindedly drum out a rhythm on the marble countertop. Glancing around the room, I see that there's enough moonlight slanting through the windows to see most of the room a ghost-like glow. Sighing to myself, I think of how terrible it is to not have any power. Stumbling around in the dark and never getting a hot shower, I wonder how life was like before there ever was electricity to begin with. This though throws me into a memory.

_The sun feels warm against my skin. A big, heavy dress covers my body and dirt from the unpaved road covers my feet. The heavy stench of human waste fills my lungs and I fight to keep from gagging over the smell, but besides that, the place is beautiful.  
__Horse drawn carts rumble by as merchants yell out, attempting to sell their goods. I look over to the man that stands beside me. We're holding hands.  
_"_Isn't this interesting?" He asks with a bright smile—a smile that melts me to my core, and I find myself smiling back.  
__When I look away I see two young children, the boy looks no older than ten and the girl seems to be around the age of five. They are reaching out to pet a white stallion whose rider grins down at them kindly. Seeing those children fills my heart with a strange warmth that can't be explained—_

Just as suddenly as it came, the image of the past is gone. I wish desperately to bring it back, but it's lost somewhere in my mind. Frustrated, I abruptly leave the bar room, wondering who those people in my vision could be. The thought of them fills me with both sadness and joy, each conflicting emotion so strong that they threaten to tear me in half.

More wandering, in mostly blacked-out halls, and I find a gift shop near the front entrance. Large, wall-length windows line one of the walls and I find the Doctor looking at the many trinkets that fill the shelves. He picks some up, examining them in that way he does with everything else, trying to find secrets in the curves and textures of everything he sees. Not wanting to disturb him, I turn to leave, but he starts to talk to me instead.

"Couldn't sleep, huh?" He doesn't sound surprised. When I don't answer he looks up at me, revealing the thick-rimmed glasses perched on his nose.

"I didn't know you wear glasses." Once the words come out I realize how dumb they sound.

"Are you alright?" He asks, never looking away. Though he asks this often, I'm caught off guard by the words.

"Well, ye-yeah. I'm fine, I guess... I'm okay." I stumble ungracefully over my words. The Doctor looks at me awhile, waiting for me to open up to him. Part of me wants to, but I can find no words to describe anything I'm thinking or feeling.

"Come look at this."

I walk over and see he's holding a tiny statue of a weeping angel. Knowing there's a reason he's showing me this, I ask, "What is it?"

"A Weeping Angel. Well, not the real thing. Just a figure. The real things are much more terrifying, and, well, _real._" He says in his rambling sort of way, only this time it doesn't irritate me.

"What's a Weeping Angel?" I find myself looking at him instead of the angel in his hands.

"It's a creature. Ancient. Been around for centuries, they have. Always attacking when the victim isn't looking. Angels of death, in a way. Not that they kill you themselves. They just send you to your death." My eyes go wide.

"What do you mean?"

"If you're not looking and they touch you, BANG! You've been sent back in time with no way of getting to your home era. And then you just... die. And nobody from home ever knows what happened to you. You just disappear." A shiver ran down my spine.

"Is that why you hardly ever blink?"

"Part of the reason, yeah."

"What's the other part?" I ask, involuntarily leaning closer to him. Instead of answering he just continues running his eyes over the little things the gift shop has to offer.

"If you're not going to sleep then would you like to head back to the forest?" He asks suddenly.

I agree but suggest that we get something to eat on our way out. In the kitchen, I open the industrial sized fridge, scanning all the possibilities. Something begins to dawn on me. I close the fridge and open it again. Light glows brightly from its inside, illuminating the farthest reaches of the interior. Over my shoulder, I glace at the Doctor. He's leaning against the counter, arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face like he knows something.

Again, I close the fridge, walking over to the wall of the kitchen, feeling around for a light switch. On and off I flick it, but nothing happens. I walk back to the fridge and open it. It's working! I was so hungry earlier that I hadn't even noticed, but the Doctor clearly had.

"Let's go," I say urgently and drop some money on the counter with a quick note of what we took and a brief explanation that we were hungry travelers on our way through the city.

Outside the cool night air caresses my cheeks.

"It's so beautiful out here." I say aloud.

"Yes, it is. And it's nice to see that you have hair after all and it wasn't just a bird's nest on top of your head." The Doctor jokes. Self-consciously, I run my fingers through my now-groomed hair and blush slightly, thankful that it's dark enough to hide the redness.

"You're not so bad looking yourself." I shoot back, and then I realize that it's true—he _is_ quite attractive. "Even for a time-traveling alien." I add to take some weight of the words. He laughs slightly. "What are you, anyway?" I ask and look sidelong at him.

"You'll figure it out," he smirks again with that knowing look of his. I don't know how I'm going to figure it out and I don't feel like asking.

Walking ahead of him, I try peering through the shop windows along the street, but the moon doesn't offer enough light to see that well. Plus, most of the windows are tinted. I feel eyes on me and in my peripheral vision I catch the Doctor looking at me. This is something he does often, looking at me when he thinks that I don't notice, like there's something about me that he can't quite understand.

In the side of my vision I study him, too. It's miraculous that I haven't realized just how handsome he is with those big brown eyes that look like a steaming cup of hot chocolate—warm and sweet. An old-fashioned, 21st century business suit compliments his tall, thin frame yet clashes with the laid-back nonconformity of his white canvas shoes. It's an absurd outfit, no doubt about it, but he can pull it off well. What a strange being he is, and so passionate. Always thinking and analyzing and scrutinizing everything he sees. His intelligence is astounding. The quirky way that he rambles off and begins to talk too fast makes me want to laugh and warms my insides yet at the same time it frustrates me—it makes me feel as though some part of me is missing, some part that is dying to surface that will allow me to comprehend what he's going on about.

Suddenly, the eerie feeling of being watched washes over me, and I know that it's not from the curious eyes of the Doctor. It's the same stillness like when we first arrived in the city. Hurriedly, I go back to the Doctor's side, away from the shop windows, and reach out for his hand. When he accepts mine, I urge him to walk faster. I can tell that he senses it, too, because his long legs pick up the pace even more and I'm at an awkward half-walk, half-jog beside him.

From out of nowhere, a sharp pain ignites the left side of my chest. It feels like barbed wire has encased my left heart. It tightens around like a boa. Instantly, I fall to my knees. A blood-curdling scream sets fire to my lungs and throat. My left heart is no longer beating. It's absence throws me off balance and my right heart thunders into overdrive to condensate for loss. My vision goes hazy with the intense pain. A bullet. I've been shot.

The Doctor is right next to me. He half carries, half drags me out of the street, mumbling, "It's okay, you'll be okay. Just hang on!"

With my one frantic heart, blood rapidly spills from the wound. The combined loss of heart and blood turns the city swim around me into a woozy, grey fog. Suddenly, I get slammed into a memory:

_Orange sky, foreign yet familiar is above me. Explosions light up the sky. Rubble cascades around me like a shower of death and destruction. I hear bombs going off and distant screams as I run frantically through the desolate, war-torn streets. My legs are moving so fast that they don't feel real. __When I heard about the attack on the school, I was not only horrified, but also repulsed that the Darlek would attack innocent children.  
_The ground buckles and blows up under my feet, throwing me back several yards. I scramble back up. The usually orange-tinged air is filled with black dust and falling debris. Running over chunks of cement that once were tall, elaborate buildings, I stumble along as fast as I can. Ahead of me is the school. I'm almost there! My babies, they'll be safe soon!  
Two children run towards me, panic and tears evident on their faces. A twelve-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl. I force myself to run even faster.  
"Siouhlll! Puiule!" I call them, my voice an insane shriek.  
Another bomb detonates, tossing my forward and sprawling me out on my stomach. I glance up, frantically looking for my children. Relief floods over me briefly when I see that they're still running to me. I jump to my feet and keep going, desperate to reach them, to have them in my arms again.  
Almost there! I'm just barely a length away from encasing my babies in my arms. I can save them.  
BOOM!  
_Another explosion goes off, close by. It takes a while for my sigh to return to me and my ears are ringing. Only vaguely, I realize the pain throughout my body, feel the hot sticky substance from my wounds trickle down my body. I look around me, everything seeming distant and slow.  
Screams pierce through the whistle in my ears and I see Puiule crouched next to her brother, both coated in more blood than skin. Siouhlll remains un-moving in the rubble. "NO!" I screech. I get back up after being knocked to the ground, yet again, and try to scramble over to my children. The loss of blood and my injury cause the ground to spin and lurch toward my face, but I keep moving forward. My hair is matted to my face with blood and sweat and tears. I'm still the same distance away when the last bomb went off despite my unflagging efforts to run to my daughter and son.  
"Come!" I call out, but it's only a gurgled sound, the sweet, metalic taste of blood filling my mouth.  
It takes all my effort, energy, and will power to inch forward, but I do. Hope soars in me; I might be able to reach them, then I can regenerate, then we can get out of here.  
_BOOM!  
_Debris and rubble shower around me. This time not even the ringing in my ears comes. I can hear absolutely nothing. But I can still see. I wish I was blind, for the image before me is so heart-wrenching and so horrifying. Just ten feet ahead of me, my two lovely little angels are sprawled out in pools of their own blood, their bodies shredded and mangled. Stone dead. Not even a last moment chance to regenerate. The loudest, wildest, most enraged, tortured scream errupts through my chest, up my throat and out of my mouth._

Blood-curdling screams snap me out of the vision of something so horrible, it's hard to believe that it really happened, but I know with every fiber of my being that it was real and that it did happen, even though I don't understand what it is or what it means. Once I realize the screaming is coming from me, I cut the sound off abruptly. My eyes struggle to focus and when they do, the Doctor's face is surprisingly close to mine. Eons worth of pain pierce through his eyes, the torture so sharp that I reach up to touch his face in a comforting gesture. He catches my hand and squeezes it, tight.


	5. Guessing Games and Accusations

**_DISCLAIMER:_** I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia and the plot are mine.

**_Author's Note:_** Okay, so in this chapter, The Doctor is kind of a bipolar douche-bag towards the end, but I promise that it's for a good reason that you'll learn later on! And as always, I love reviews!

Review Replies:  
**BlueEyedDreamer97/Kris:** Yes, i can tell that you'r very good at figuring things out. You should be a detective! (: And Thank you so much! That's one of the greatest complements that I can receive as a writer. I've been writing ever since I could read. I get it from my Papa- we used to tell each other stories all the time. (:  
**TrashedAndScatteredSidewinder/F.R.:** Haha, sorry you don't like the cliff-hangers! I just like to have strong endings to my chapters and that seemed like the best way to leave off. No worries, though! I knew I'd be able to add the next chapter today so at least you didn't have to wait that long! xD

**Chapter 5: Guessing Games and Accusations**

The grip of his hand is so tight that it takes my mind off the bullet lodged in my chest, if only a little. His vice-clench keeps me from slipping into oblivion, and I don't dare take my eyes from his. I take in the agonized expression on his face and I wonder, lucidly, if he's gotten shot as well.

"Come on! HEAL!" He screams frantically at me and I realize that there is something that I must remember, only I don't know what it could possibly be.. "Heal yourself!" He shrieks manically.

My eyes squint as I try to concentrate around my weakened, dazed state.

_Heal myself. _Of course! I try pulling my hand away from his, but he only tightens his hold on me, which is seemingly impossible, yet he still manages it. I try to shake my head "no", but it just sends a shower of needle pricks into my head.

"Okay. It's okay." I rasp out and he, reluctantly, releases my hand.

I dig around my belt, trying to find a specific pocket out of the millions that cover it. My fingers tremble so badly that it's damn near impossible to move them properly—they twitch and flick outward spastically no matter how hard I focus for control. Finally, I manage to find the pocket I'm looking for and pull out the one thing that can possibly save my life.

It's a thin piece of paper-like material, much like rice paper. This device is like ace bandaging on steroids; once laid over a wound, no matter the size, it will stop the bleeding. It's called Hero Seal, government issued, usually given to soldiers on the front lines but I was able to get my hands on some before making my retreat. Before placing it over the hole torn into my chest, I struggle to find and extract a pair of tweezers from my belt.

Hoping he can handle such gore, I hand the tweezers to the Doctor, a slight plea in my eyes. He looks at me, seeming somehow disappointed, like he expected something else for from me. Hesitantly, he takes the tweezers, preparing to remove the awful bullet. I close my eyes.

Cold metal probes the inside of my chest, rubbing against torn, shredded, and burned flesh. Though I do my best to fight it, a squeal emits from my mouth from the searing pain. Teeth and eyes clenched tight, I reach out to hold onto the Doctor. I want to hide the torture of it from him, but this is the best I can do.

"I'm so sorry, Alexia." He murmurs and I can hear the strain in his voice. I'm the one that's sorry for making him do this gruesome act, but I don't dare open my mouth—if I do, I'll only scream.

Slowly, I feel the bullet slide it's way out of me, not nearly as easily as it went in. After what feels like eternity, the Doctor tells me that I can open my eyes. When I do, the world is even shakier than before. My brain feels like it's floating and spinning in circles, and it's almost like I'm not inside my body; like my soul is trying to escape from the horror and agony of my physical form.

Hands shaking with the effort, I place a sheet of the Hero Seal over the wound. Relief floods over me now that I know I can't lose any more blood, but that doesn't make the world stabilize any. Nothing feels real, it's all like some sort of lucid nightmare, only it's not. My eyes swim around the surroundings, half focused, and land upon the Doctor. His dark brows are furrowed in concern and I notice his eyes—eyes that are too old, too ancient, for the youth of his face and body—bore into me, like he expects me to remember something important, or say something, that can fix the whole situation. What is it?

"Can you stand?" He asks, but the words don't make any sense. I stare at him, dazed. In response, he scoops me up like a small child and begins to run. The jerky movements send shockwaves of shivering pain into my chest. I vaguely realize that he never seemed shocked that I didn't drop dead, but maybe he just doesn't understand human anatomy.

My eyes begin to droop and tiredness settles into every cell in my body. Knowing that I should be okay; well knowing that I shouldn't _die_ now; I allow the exhaustion to consume my consciousness in the form of a gaping, black hole.

When I finally come-to, I'm curled up on the beaten-up old chair in the TARDIS, facing the control center. Through a pounding head and sharp pain in my chest, I focus on the room around me. I take in the metal-grated floors and golden reef-like support structures that seem familiar in a way that's more than just the few times I've seen it since the meeting the Doctor in the woods. How this is possible, I do not know, yet the nagging feeling does not resign.

"Wake, finally," I hear before making out the Doctor's form in the shadows. He comes up to me and I can't help but notice the distance in his appearance, not that he stays physically away from me or that there's a different way about his speech. Instead it's like he's not really here with me, like he's in some other place that only he can see. I smile at him in my still-dazed state which seems to bring him back, if only slightly.

"Here, you can have this. I would have offered it sooner, if I knew how hungry you were. I suppose you still must be hungry now, not that you eat too much or anything, well, you do eat a lot for a human, but that's not what I mean." His rambling brings a smile to my face this time, calling my mind away from my physic state. He holds out a strange, yellow fruit. A banana. I like bananas. "I like bananas; bananas are good." He says, voicing my thoughts. "You know, it's kind of like a party now, with the banana. You can never have a proper party without a banana—always take a banana to a party. Bananas are good." His rambling brings me back to a memory.

The memory is the same one of the children and the man on the horse. Horrified, I realize these children are the same ones from the memory of the burning city. Looking at the banana, the image of the man that stood next to me materializes. I don't know what this has to do with the banana or the Doctor, since the man in my memory has brown hair and light grey eyes. Then I notice with joy that the memory didn't entirely consume me like all the others have. This memory is like watching two TV's at once; one being the real world, the other being the memory. I smile triumphantly as I accept the banana.

"What is it?" The Doctor eyes me with a look I can't interpret.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. It's nothing. I just really like bananas." With this the Doctor smiles warmly at me. While his smile melts something within me, it also makes me uncomfortable and I have to look away.

"Where are we?" My teeth sink into the soft, creamy-sweet flesh of the fruit.

"Inside the TARDIS."

"I know that but _where?"_ I take another eager bite of the yellow treat.

"The woods."

After a few more thoughtful bites, I ask, "So, what have you gathered from what we saw at the city?" I sound very business-like.

"What have _you_ gathered?" He counters.

"Well, there's obviously something, or _someone_, draining the power, well more like taking it, but not _all_ of it. They left enough for refrigerators and military bases to function. But why? Why those specific things?"

"Why do you think?"

"Well, they don't want to kill us it seems. But why the military? Maybe they're trying to play some sort of game, like they want us to figure it out. Some kind of lesson, like when you want a little kid to learn something but you leave them to their own devises to do so. But why?" Finished with the banana, I hand the peel back to the Doctor since I don't know where to put it. I rack my brain for anything, any spark of an idea, no matter how tiny.

"What do you think?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me. Are you one of them?" I shoot him a dark look. My planet's existence could possibly be threatened and he's playing guessing games. There's no time for any of this. I just need to figure it out so that I can know what to do. I love this planet with its open blue skies and fluffy clouds, its green grass and rich foliage. It needs protection.

"What did you remember? When you got shot?" He asks suddenly.

Startled, I ask, "What do you mean?"

"Your eyes glazed over and flickered around like you were seeing something that wasn't there. What was it?" The horrid images flash through my mind, but I shove them away.

"Nothing, it was nothing." I don't know how to explain them, and even though I'm beginning to trust the Doctor more and more, I don't want to tell him.

"It could be important. Just tell me, please." Desperation flashes in his eyes and for some reason it scares me a little.

"It has nothing to do with this investigation."

"Alexia, I'm trying to help. You need to remember. Tell me!" His voice turns to a shout and I flinch away, the sudden movement causing pain to shoot through where the bullet burrowed its way into my left heart.

"It doesn't matter! It doesn't even make sense so just forget it!" I scream, my still functioning heart beginning to beat faster.

After awhile of looking at me he finally hisses "You're just a stupid ape, aren't you? You coward of a species! You'd rather run and hide than fight for your land, your people, your _family!" _

Rage bubbles through my veins at his words. Of course I want to save my planet! That's why I need his alien help, to save this world that I love so much.

"_I can't do anything until I know what's going on! You can't go into battle without knowing what you're up against!" _I roar at him, jumping to my feet. With only one heart, I'm so terribly unbalanced. I stumble forward, trying to catch myself from falling, like some disgraced ballerina. My hands fly out, catching my fall the the controls in front of me, and steadying the wobbly ground.

"You care about nothing, you selfish, no good _human!"_ He snarls, making the word "human" sound as if it's the most disgusting thing there can be. I glare at him, blood pumping from my one working heart, setting my body ablaze with white-hot anger.

"I am not selfish!" I yell.

"Yes you are, along with the whole lot of you ape-humans!" His eyes don't match the anger and hatred of his voice, but that doesn't mean anything to me. All I register are his words and the boiling liquid in my veins.

"I am not an _ape!" _My yell is so loud that it makes my lungs feel like they're tearing apart from the volume.

"Then what the hell are you, huh?" He yells with triumph gleaming heavily in his eyes.

"I am the human that will save this planet, even if I have to do it alone!"

Once the words are out of my mouth, I half stumble, half run out of the TARDIS and into the spinning, blurry woods. I leave behind the infuriating man and the stupid fucking blue box. I don't need him! I will save this damned globe, even if it means my life.


	6. Jigsaw

**_DISCLAIMER:_** I do not own Doctor Who or anything that is affiliated with it, but Alexia and the plot are mine.

**Author's Note:** This chapter is about Alexia rediscovering who she is. They are the memories that are most important to her (and the background of the story). While they are numbered, they are not in chronological order as far as the order they took place in. They are in the order of her remembering them.

Review Replies:  
**BlueEyedDreamer97/Kris:** I hope that's a good :O lol. And since it's the weekend I'm hoping to get up more than my usual one chapter a day! (: And I bet you can get better at writing if you want. I find that the more I read, the more techniques I pick up for my own writing.  
**TrashedAndScatteredSidewinder/F.R.:** Alexia's visions are of fixed and unfixed possibilities in time. She is a Timelord, which she finally discovers in this chapter. So now that she knows that, she will be able to see more than visions of the future (she will see they way Rose described as "what was, what is, and all that there ever could be"). In the chapter that she gets shot, she didn't see it happen because her mind was in such turmoil that she unknowingly blocked herself from her third sight. Did you notice that the Doctor didn't see it coming either? ;)

**Chapter 6: Jigsaw**

I find myself in a tree, way up high, hidden amongst the branches. I have no clue how I possibly managed to get up here in my condition, but obviously I did. Over and over again I keep amazing myself, not in a conceited way, more like I can't believe my own existence. It's been this way for as long as I can remember. Only now I realize that there is just a small fraction of my life that I do remember.

Since meeting the doctor in the woods, just over a week ago, my mind has become turmoil—chaos—with memories struggling for my long-deserved attention. The things that have slammed themselves into my mind were so terrible and frightening, yet so far away, from another life, another person. But I know that is not true—these haunting memories _are _mine, even if I can't make much sense of them. It is finally time to except these things, to welcome them back after who knows how long. I owe it to Siohlll and Puiule—my lovely angels that were ripped away from me—to understand who I am, who they are, and what happened to make such rotten things happen.

Slowly, cautiously, I find the wall, whose age is a mystery, that I built to keep all these thoughts and memories so far away from me. Without the blockade, they flood back:

_**Memory 1:**_

_Orange sky, foreign yet familiar is above me. Explosions light up the sky. Rubble cascades around me in a shower of death and destruction…  
_…_Two children run toward me, panic and tears evident on their faces. A twelve-year-old boy and seven-year-old girl. I force myself to run even faster. "Siohlll! Puiule!"…  
_BOOM!  
_Just ten few ahead of me, my two lovely little angels are sprawled out in pools of their own blood, their bodies shredded and mangled…_

_**Memory 2:**_

"_Look at this!" Susan, my granddaughter, yells and we all abandon the table of snacks. We gather around the holographic TV once the emergency news cast interrupts our show. We are hosting a party at our home, a family get-together.  
__A uniform gasp escapes our lips. The hologram shows the remains of a southern city.  
_"_What is this?" I whisper, mostly to myself.  
_"_We are now looking at footage of an attack that happened only moments ago. As you can see the city is in ruins—" The reporter's voice gets cut off suddenly along with the image of the destroyed city, being replaced with a robotic-looking creature—a Dalek.  
_"_We are the Dalek! Surrender or be EXTERMINATED!" It's mechanical voice yells before the hologram flickers out._

_**Memory 3:**_

_The sun feels warm against my skin. A big, heavy dress covers my body and dirt from the unpaved road covers my feet. The heavy stench of human waste fills my lungs and I fight to keep from gagging over the smell, but besides that, the place is beautiful.  
__Horse drawn carts rumble by as merchants yell out, attempting to sell their goods. I look over to the man that stands beside me. We're holding hands.  
_"_Isn't this interesting?" He asks with a bright smile—a smile that melts me to my core, and I find myself smiling back.  
__When I look away I see two young children—Siohlll and Puiule. The boy, Siohlll, looks no older than ten and the girl, Puiule, seems to be around the age of five. They are reaching out to pet a white stallion whose rider grins down at them kindly. Seeing those children fills my heart with a strange warmth that can't be explained.  
_"_This is wonderful! The perfect vacation!" I exclaim, squeezing the man's—my husband's—hand. I look back to him as he leans down and gently presses his lips to mine. Fire ignites my hearts in a passionate song._

_**Memory 4:**_

_After struggling for what feels like centuries, I finally reach the TARDIS that's hidden in a cave of in the mountains of Solace and Solitude. I tentatively knock on the door.  
_"_Pop? Poppy, it's me. Let me in." My voice is rough and crackled so much that I doubt he'll recognize it.  
__Slowly, the door of the TARDIS opens. A man with peppered hair and green eyes stands looking at me, his eyes full of worry. I search his eyes before stepping inside the ship of space and time. He's regenerated, but I can tell by his eyes that his man is my grandpa. This is how us Timelords can identify one another—by our eyes, which eternally show our true self, despite the number of regenerations we undergo.  
_"_You need to regenerate!" He yells at me with a voice I'm not yet used to.  
_"_There was no time! The whole city is in ruins!" I stumble into the comfort and safety of my Papa and the TARDIS, both welcoming me with open arms.  
__Then my grandpa releases me and takes a few steps back. Time to regenerate. Papa looks away respectfully.  
__All the cells in my body feel like they're electrified; all humming as they rub together faster and faster, rewriting DNA and correcting the wreckage of wasted tissue. The cells start to glow faintly at first until—BAM! Explosion of golden light fills my thoughts and vision.  
__When the light fades away so does all the pain—physical pain, at least.  
__I look and meet the eyes of my grandpa.  
_"_The children?" he whispers carefully. Boiling tears spring to my eyes and roll down my cheeks, creating steamy-hot rivers. Weakly, I shake my head "no".  
_"_And…" My expression silences his next question.  
_"_No, it's impossible. The city—it's so—there were so many bombs! So many explosions! He was on the _front line, _Papa. The _front lines!_ There's no way he could have survived it!" I choke out between sobs.  
__This is one of the curses of the Timelord gift—the gift to see what is, what was, and what ever could be—we could not see the time line of our own species. It was usually a treasured blessing—imagine how horrible it would be like to see all the possible ways that your loved ones could die every time you looked at them!—but now that we were in a time of war, the blessing became a curse. I had no way of being able to tell if anyone I loved was still alive—no way of knowing if my dear husband had made it out alive. But I saw the city burnt to the ground, I was there. I barely escaped myself, unable to save my youngest son and daughter. All that's left of Gallifrey is my grandpa, his TARDIS, and myself._

**_Memory 5:_**

_I walk down the isle with the opaque white veil covering my face. Roses, orange blossoms, apple blossoms, and cherry blossoms make up my bouquet. We chose to have our wedding on Earth, since this is where we had our first serious date. My parents were rather proud that I was marrying another Timelord, though they wouldn't have minded too much if I wanted to be wed to another species.  
__The ancient city of London is where we decided to have our wedding‒—the city's amazing strength during Earth's second World War, the way that they refused to give in to the whims of a crazed dictator, inspired us. Having our wedding here was to symbolize that our marriage would have the same heart and soul of England in those times‒—even through the difficult times we would not give up on each other or ourselves.  
__Humans play music off to the side of the large cathedral, and a long red carpet leads me to the alter where he awaits me. My steps quicken, my hearts both begin to pound, my body temperature rises slightly. I just want to run the length of the isle and jump into his arms. We've only been apart two Earth days, which are only about half the length of the days on our home planet, Gallifrey, but it feels like eternity—and for a Timelord, that's saying something.  
__Finally, at long last, I reach the alter. Behind it is the Human's god, Jesus, who supposedly sacrificed his life for the people‒—not that He's the reason that we chose this church, we just fell in love with its design. Traditionally _Earth.  
_I pull my eyes away from Jesus's eternally downcast sculpture-eyes and meet the living, green eyes of the man I am giving my life to.  
__In a few minutes, this wonderfully enthusiastic, charismatic, hilarious man is going to be _mine—_my husband. I can tell that he's nervous—the pounding of his twin hearts is practically audible. He wrings his hands, biting his lower lip. A weak, shy smile tugs at the corners of his mouth and I can't help but smile brightly, reassuringly, back at him. The look on his face seems to be mischievous and comical.  
__He enters my mind telepathically: _Imagine if the priest knew he was marrying two aliens from another galaxy. Another time in fact!  
_I suppress my laughter, which takes all of my effort.  
__Much of the ceremony goes by in a blur with all my excitement. There's a part in the vows where it's clear that my so soon-to-be husband totally goes blank and forgets what to say; forgets what he has written down and prepared for this day.  
__Dead silence fills the room as we all wait, every pair of eyes staring at him expectantly. I see the panic begin to rise in him and I know he thinks that I'm angry at him. Gently, I squeeze his hands that are beginning to grow even clammier in mine. He clears his throat.  
_"_I-I had this all planned out—really, I did. But now, looking at you, I know that none of those words I had prepared are true." I try to fight off the fear that's filling up inside me. He must see it on my face because he tights his grip on me and hurries on with his words. "I was going to come up here and promise you how perfect of a husband I was going to be, how I would never get even the slightest bit mad at you, but the truth is, I've never been a husband before. If I were to promise you perfection, it would be a lie. But what I can promise you is this: I will _always_ love you. I will always be here for you. I will be your best friend, your most trustworthy companion, and your most honest adviser. Things won't be perfect all of the time, even though it's easy to say that they will, but I promise to always do my best to make things right when they are wrong, to listen to you, to hold you when you're upset, and _never _will I leave your side. I love you, Zynthalexia."_

**_Memory 6:_**

_I come home from another long day at work, even though the Earth days are incredible shorter that those on Gallifrey. It's only been 50 years since Papa and I have fled our home planet. I push open the door, yelling out that it's me, like many of the Earth shows do on TV. No greeting comes from within the house.  
_"_Pop?" I call. No answer.  
__I walk into the living room, and drop the mail that I'm carrying. My grandpa is lying on the floor, glowing neon-blue liquid rolling out of his mouth. His blank eyes staring at a fixed point on the ceiling. Falling to my knees, I drag his lifeless body onto my lap.  
_"NOOOOOO!"_ I scream. In such a short about of time, I have lost so much—lost everything. How cruel and unfair the universe could be. My fingers wipe away some of the blue substance and I take a whiff of it. The foul sent makes me gag. This was no doing of a human—this liquid is not found on Earth, nor are its ingredients. This liquid kills a Timelord before they get a chance to regenerate  
__Wait…NOT HUMAN!  
__Placing my Papa down softly, I run out the back door of our house and throw open the door of the garage. The TARDIS is still there. Why would they leave something as powerful as a TARDIS untouched? Dread washes over me. Only Timelords knew how to operate a TARDIS correctly, at least to my knowledge.  
__Hesitantly, I pushed open the door and stepped inside. Like every other TARDIS, it was bigger on the inside. Without even having to explore, I could see the damage clearly. Obviously, someone had tried to steal the TARDIS—many of the controls were damaged beyond repair, plus the person's body lay heaped on the ground. As a defence mechanism, the TARDIS sends shockwaves of electricity into the air when something seems astray, the one thing that can kill every species expect for Timelords.  
__Now everything truly was lost. I was now the last of my kin‒—the last of the powerful, mighty Timelords—and my ship was destroyed. I'm now stuck on this planet, in this time, for the rest of my life._

_**Memory 7:**_

_I lost my family in a terrible fire, along with everything else that defined my life. With nothing and no one left, I decide that maybe it's best to join the military. When I go in for my physical exam, I learn that I have two hearts, both of which pound way too fast. Another weird thing is that my body temperature is only 59 degrees Fahrenheit! Imagine how freaky that is! After a bunch of tests and scans, the doctor finally deduces it to some kind of rare genetic disorder. With a bewildered laugh, she tells me I'm the most interesting human on the planet, and clears me for boot camp._

_**Memory 7:**_

_He takes me to a planet I have never seen before for our first date—our first serious date. It is called "Earth." The grass here is almost identical to that on Gallifrey, only it is green instead of deep crimson and they have plants similar to our trees, but the leaves, like the grass, are also green instead of silver. The sky is blue with white things that float above that he tells me are called "clouds."  
__The time he has decided to take me to is very interesting. We are on a island called Japan in a time when they had warriors called the Samurai.  
_"_I apologize that this era is pretty violent, but I wanted you to see how interesting and graceful the people here are. You see that hut over there?" He points it out. "It is a Shinto building. It is sort of like a religion about honoring nature and the ancestors."  
__We wander around some, and eventually get into a small village. The aliens here don't look much like aliens at all, in fact they look very much like us. After asking around, we are directed to a well-known Samurai warrior. We tell him we are from a far off land and wish to be educated about the ways of his people. He shows us razor sharp weapons. One that most intrigues me is the Tonfa Kata, a baton-style sword. Though they are frightening, they are also very elegant.  
__I realize that this is the same man from my wedding, the one who becomes my husband. He looks different than he does when we get married. His eyes are blue, not green, and his hair is several shades lighter. I focus the memory to look into his eyes, and I can see who he really is—I can see into his soul. He is the same man that ends up becoming my husband despite the alteration in his physical appearance._

_**Memory: 8**_

"_Where do you think we should go?" Papa asks me once we've gotten away from the terrorized planet—the planet that no longer can be our home.  
__I say the only planet that is of any significance to me. "Earth."  
__Once we reach our destination, I ask that my grandpa take us to Japan and the Samurai. He looks at me questioningly, but doesn't ask why.  
__We end up going to every era that I visited with my husband and children. Every time that we stop in, I collect some kind of knife. First I get myself twin tonfa katas, then all sorts of daggers. It's not that I like weapons, but it's the one thing that intrigued me the most by my first visit to Earth. It reminded me how long my husband took to find the warrior just to show me something unique . Plus, they just seemed so fascinating, so alien to me—unlike anything I've seen on any other planet. They were like works of art that I would never have discovered without my lover, the man that I lost forever._

It takes hours to run through all these memories. While I now understand a great deal more about myself, there are still so many questions—so many things that I _don't_ know. There are still things that I don't remember. Only one person can tell me what I must figure out.

With the grace of a puma, I descend from the tree, determination setting my legs into a fast pace. The pain from my wound is now only a dull ache, but I don't know if it's because I've just adjusted to the pain or if it really doesn't hurt so much anymore. I'm not shaky either, but my body feels weak and useless with only one heart. I suppose I could regenerate but I don't remember how, and, admittedly, I'm afraid to.

The closer I get to the Doctor and his TARDIS, the slower and more deliberate my steps become. I find that I'm nervous. My hands shake and start to get sweaty. I keep rubbing them on my jeans, then finally rest them on the hilts of the twin tonfa swords sheathed to my sides. The contact calms me, but only a little. What if the Doctor's gone?

Forcefully, I shove the idea away. He would know that I'm like him; the same species. He looked into my eyes enough times to see it. But why didn't he say ever anything? And why did he say those awful things to me?

At long last, the TARDIS stands in front of me, right where I left it. I stride closer to it, staring at the chipped blue paint for a while before cautiously rapping on the door.

Silently, the door opens, revealing the Doctor. He leans against the frame, hands in his pockets and a warm, glowing smile that strikes deep inside me with its heat. The expression on his face is like he's welcoming home a long-lost lover.

I swallow hard before meeting his eyes. Something about them is so familiar, yet I can't quite place it. I know him, though I don't know how or who, exactly, he is. For now that doesn't matter so I push the feeling away. I need answers.

My voice is barely above a whisper when I request:

"Tell me about Gallifrey."


	7. Gallifrey

**_DISCLAIMER:_** I do not own Doctor Who or the planet Gallifrey, but Alexia and the plot are mine. Much of what the Doctor says about the planet is adapted from "The Sound of Drums" (Season 3, Episode 12).

_**Author's Note:**_ (warning) This chapter is significantly shorter than all the others, but I promise that the next chapter should be up later today! (: Enjoy.  
(Constructive omments & suggestions welcome.)

Review Replies:  
**BlueEyedDreamer97/Kris:** I haven't had a chance to read any of your fanfictions yet, but when I finish with this one then I'll definitely check 'em out. But if you read a lot, then I highly doubt that you suck. (:

**Chapter 7: Gallifrey**

"It was the most extraordinary planet in the entire universe. The Shining World of the Seventh System, within the constellation of Kasterborous. The second sun would rise in the south, making the mountains shimmer. The trees had silver leaves and, when the sun glittered on them just right in the early morning, it looked like a forest of living fire. On the continent of Wild Endeavor, in the mountains of Solace and Solitude, was the Citadel of the Timelords. It watched over the galaxies below, like a silent, non-intrusive guardian. It was the most ancient, most beautiful planet.

"The children of Gallifrey would be taken to go to the Academy and at only eight years old, just a child, they would go as a novice to see the Untempered Schism, the initiation to life as a Timelord. It's a gap in the fabric of reality, through which can be seen the whole of the time vortex." The Doctor looks upward with a reminiscent smile brightening his features as he tells me of our shared home world.

A longing ache comes to my chest and, although I don't remember all of what he tells me, I miss my lovely home planet.

"What did the Dalek want from us? I remember them invading, and I remember bombs igniting the sky—all the bodies! It was terrible!" My chest tightens into a knot, and I feel tears begin to well up in my eyes but I fight them back. The Doctor looks as pained as I do and he reaches out to grab my hand. Looking up, I meet his eyes through a blur of tears. "I can't believe you're really here—I mean, I thought I was the last one left. My family—they're all gone."

The images of my children and grandpa lying lifelessly beside me flash through my mind. Then comes the memories of my husband, the one I didn't have time to try and find. But I seen all the bombs, I had seen the utter destruction, and my lover was on the front lines. There's no possible way he could have survived that.

Sobs rack my frame and I burry my head in my hands just like the figure the Doctor showed me of the Weeping Angel. Strong arms embrace me and I lean deeper into them. The Doctor squeezes me tight and I cry into his shoulder.

"I lost them all, Doctor! My babies—my children." I choke out between the sobbing. "The Dalek blew up the school!" I scream, my grief churns into searing rage without warning. My fists clench so tight that my knuckles turn white and the skin feels like it's going to tear.

The Doctor pushes away to look deep into my eyes and I'm surprised to see the horrified agony on his face. "Did you have children there, too?" When I ask him this, the pain on his face intensifies and his hold on me slackens slightly. "I'm so sorry." I whisper.

Together, we cry and cry. The doctor, a man that I saw as so unbreakable, is crying in my arms—and I in his. Together we share the pain and grief of the loss we share—our homes, our friends, and our families. I don't know how long we stay like that, clinging desperately to each other so as not to lose the one last piece of our species, and the memories of our lost planet. But when the pain ebbs away, ever so slightly, and with my physical wound and the rampant emotions of the day, I'm exhausted. The Doctor leads me to a room that is not visible from the main control station, and finally, I slip into the pleasant blankness of sleep.


	8. Regenerating an Epiphany

_**DISCLAIMER:**_ I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia and the plot are mine.

Review Replies:  
**Cetacea-of-Time:** You know your stuff, don't you? Haha. Hopefully this update came soon enough! xD  
**Icefeather:** Thank you! And thanks for taking the time to read it.  
**BlueEyedDreamer97/Kris:** This is the chapter that we find out for sure. And yes, the Doctor is her husband, first and only. The reason she says that Puiule and Siohlll are her "youngest daughter and son" is to imply that she has more than just them. Since neither Puiule or Siohlll were old enough to have their own children, Alexia needed to have had other kids so that she could be a grandmother to Susan.

**Chapter 8: Regenerating an Epiphany**

We stay around in the Doctor's TARDIS for the next few days, sometimes joking around, other times sharing each other's company in thoughtful silence. The Doctor seems to be waiting for something, but I can't imagine what it could be.

When I wake up the morning after we shared our tears, things are different between us, if only slightly. He doesn't seem to get on my nerves as much, though there are times that I shoot him a look that is the same as telling him to shut up. For some reason I always feel guilty afterwards and try making up for it by engaging him into a new conversation.

One day, I challenge him to a dance off. We blast old Earth tunes and dance around the circular helm of the TARDIS which soon becomes a chasing game. He catches me every time, and I only get him sometimes, and only because he lets me. When he gets me, he tickles me and I scream and laugh like crazy, trying to fight him off playfully. For a while I forget about the faces and memories that haunt me and I feel normal—complete—for once.

Today, the Doctor hands me a banana but when I grab it he doesn't let go. I look questioningly at him, one eyebrow raised, thinking he's going to start another Run-Around-the-TARDIS game. The seriousness of his pensive gaze freezes me, my smile sliding away. I feel his chocolaty eyes bore into me, willing me to remember something or come to some kind of epiphany. Unable to hold his intense gaze, I look away and release the banana. He still stands there, towering over me. After an uncomfortable moment, I realize what he wants.

"I'm not doing it." I say, still unable to meet his silent demand—his silent plea. "I'm not going to regenerate."

"It will help you. You will be able to do a lot more. Look at yourself, you're so weak. You're wasting away." He pauses to let the words sink in. "You need to regenerate." It isn't a request—he's not making it optional.

Fear settles deeps within every cell of my body and I force myself to meet his guarded stare. Something about his eyes seem so familiar. I feel like I'm about to finally see what it is when it slips from my grasp and disappears.

"I can't—I don't know how to."

"Yes you do." His flat expression holds no evidence that he's about to relent.

"Please, Doctor. I don't want to… I'm scared." I admit, fighting back the stinging threat of tears. His face softens slightly and he crouches down to my level, where I sit on the control room chair.

He reaches out and grabs my hand, gently rubbing his thumb over its backside. Brown eyes break into me, imploringly. Like he's coaxing a spooked horse, he says "I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you. I'll keep you safe during the sleep cycle of the regeneration. I promise."

I bite my lip and reluctantly agree. I don't remember the sleep cycle, but how long could it be?

The Doctor takes a step back. Electricity begins to hum through my cells, making them rub together, building friction and energy. It burns, but I concentrate on the task of repairing and rebuilding my body from scratch. DNA gets rewritten. Damaged flesh gets annihilated and replaced by new, stronger cells. Regenerating is excruciating—imagine your whole body being torn cell from cell by a blinding, gold light.

Finally, the pain fades along with the light. I feel dizzy, but mostly I feel the wonderful sensation of two beating hearts. Testing out my new limbs, new muscles, and new ligaments, I spin around, flexing my fingers, arms, toes and hop from foot to foot. I extract the twin tonfa swords from their sheaths and twirl them around, experimenting with my reflexes. Happy with the fluid movements, I smile to myself. Then I realize that I'm not alone and I feel the Doctor's eyes on me.

"So? How do I—Whoa!" I cut off, hearing my new voice for the first time. It's a beautiful sound, soft and feminine, like an angel. Recovering, I continue with what I was saying. "How do I look?" I lift a flirty eyebrow with a smirk. The Doctor stares at me for a while, taking in my new appearance.

"You are…very beautiful." His eyes travel along my figure, up and down, before meeting my eyes. His face is bright and he has a soft smile on his face. For once, his face isn't tight with worry. Seeing him so laidback looking gives me the nagging feeling that I know him.

Just as it's about to come to me, he interrupts my concentration with an enthusiastic question. "Would you like to see before you go into the sleep cycle?"

"Yeah!" I say like it's obvious.

The Doctor leads me up a spiral staircase to a large closet. There are all different outfits from all different eras, including clothing for women and children. He directs me to a mirror.

My breath catches in my throat. I have light honey-brown hair and vibrant green eyes. My cheek bones are high and my jaw line is soft, and my skin is smooth and pale. Not once was I ever this beautiful—I'm lucky to have regenerated into this body. Despite the beauty though, I still find flaws. I'm still too skinny and my skin is too pale.

"I'm too thin. And too pale." I complain, my face crumbling into disappointment. Even with the distortion, the face that stares back at me is still pretty.

"You just still look at things with the critical eyes of a human. You've been spending too much time with the lot. They can never make up their minds. In fact, there was a point in time when humans didn't believe there was such thing as _too _thin." He comforts me, stepping up beside me, his reflection now sharing the mirror with me. I meet his reflection-eyes, which causes a memory to surface:

_It's my first trip to Earth. After seeing the Japan warriors, we go to the tropics. It's hot, just like the rest of the planet, but he tells me it's worth it. There's some kind of plant he wants to show me. This is the first time I ever have a banana. I search his blue eyes for some clue as to how to eat the weird yellow fruit. He laughs at me, and shows me how the skin peels away, but I'm too busy swimming in the glorious aqua of his expressive eyes—_

The brown eyes in the mirror look into mine, surrounded by a solemn face, but all that I really notice are those eyes—ancient eyes that hold the horrors of war, the pain of loss, and the desperation that begs me to remember. I truly see these eyes for the first time and understand what they mean to me—everything. They are _his _eyes—the man who showed me Earth, and joked about giving a priest a heart attack, and forgot what he was supposed to say on our wedding day and improvised instead. He is a new man, physically, but in his melted-chocolate eyes I can see the same heart and soul of someone I thought I had lost for all eternity. The Doctor is _mine_—my lover, my soul mate, my best friend…My husband.


	9. Desperate Trickery

_**DISCLAIMER:**_ I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia and the plot are mine.

Review Replies:  
**BlueEyedDreamer97/Kris:** Okay, I think I know where you got confused. The Doctor is Alexia's one and only husband. She's never been married to anyone else. The other men in her memories are The Doctor, he's just regenerated between the memories and that's why the men are described differently. There is always the mention of their eyes, even though they're always a different color, because that is how Alexia connects that it is the same man in each memory, by there eyes. And by looking into Doctor 10's eyes, she sees that the Doctor is her husband. The only man that isn't the Doctor is Papa, he is her grandfather. That's one thing Alexia remembered correctly. And that sounds like a good story! And I don't know anything about the Doctor having siblings. He never really talks about that too much.  
**Cetacea-of-Time:** Good! This one wasn't so fast, but hopefully the next chapter can be up by tomorrow! xD

**Chapter 9: Desperate Trickery **

Jaw dropped, I turn around to face the man that casts the reflection in the mirror. Emotions clash, creating a war of feelings and thoughts battling for dominance—joy, confusion, fear. A shy, gentle smile curves his lips upward and whatever it is that has me frozen in place breaks. I throw my arms around him.

"I thought you were dead!" I barely whisper. Old feels of loss and failure recede and my body feels as though it's an old flame of passion flickering back to life. Both my hearts feel like they are melting into gold and I'm so full of love and happiness that I'm about to burst. Tears roll down my cheeks from the overwhelming moment.

We stand there, clinging to each other so desperately, and everything seems to be suspended in time and space. Nothing but the two of us, in this moment, exists. It is so impossible—I saw Gallifrey reduced to rubble and he was on the front lines—yet here we are.

But, wait—

"You knew, didn't you? All this time, you knew who I was. So why didn't you say anything?" Hurt strikes into my chest. I try to pull away so that I can look at him, but he just pins me to himself even tighter.

"Because I knew something was wrong. You didn't know who I was. At first I thought you might have put your Timelord consciousness into a watch, but then I saw sparks of memories flickering behind your eyes. I knew that you refused to remember, that something must have been so terrible that it kept you from seeing the truth. If I were to have told you, you'd reject it and run off—I'd lose you again. I knew that I had to wait for you to come to it yourself. God, it killed me to have you be right here and yet so far away." His arms tighten around my frame even more and I burry my face into his shoulder.

The moment is ruined as a sudden, burning pain sears into my new cells and a splitting headache slams into my brain. I scream, my body going limp. The Doctor is the only thing keeping me upright.

"You need to rest now or the energy can tear you apart." He says urgently, helping me to a nearby room and settling me down on the soft bed.

"How long does this part last? I don't remember." My eyes dig into his for comfort. I'm scared that if I close my eyes that he won't be there when they open again. He grabs my hand, reassuringly.

"Just 15 hours. You'll be okay." He smiles.

Fifteen hours? But what about the planet? Even though I now understand that this is not my home world, I still want to save it. This place welcomed be at my worse, giving me a place of refuge.

"What about the planet? We need to save it! Why did you want me to regenerate now? Now we have to wait another 15 hours to do anything!" I start yelling and try to push myself up, but the pain from all the residual energy forces me back down.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it, Alexia. You stay here. The TARDIS will protect you, and by the time you're done regenerating completely, I'll be back and everything will be okay." He rests his hand on my cheek before slipping out of the room. I'm so shocked that I can only watch his retreat in silence.

There is no way that I can let him do this—not alone. For over two centuries, I wandered the universe—well, at least this planet—alone, believing that everyone I loved is dead. How can I just lay around sleeping while he goes running off into such peril? We know not what these aliens want or what species they are. What if they are hostile?

Betrayal hits deep inside me. The Doctor is just going to leave me here while he goes off into such uncertainty. I know that he's doing this to ensure my safety, but he didn't even ask me, didn't even consider what I wanted to do. Determination settles deep into my bones—I will not just stay around while he might possibly be facing his death. My teeth clench defiantly as I try to figure something out.

In the back of my mind there's an answer for what I can do to fend off the pain and control the raw energy in my body. It's something simple. I know what it is, I just have to remember. Ignoring the flares of burning energy, I focus as hard as I can until it comes to me—TEA!

All I need is tea.

Now comes the problem of how I can get some. The TARDIS won't have any, or at least I don't think it will—it's just a ship, not a home. Anyway, if I snoop around the TARDIS, he will be sure to find me. If he finds me, he'll stop me. So, without snooping, how can I get tea, or at least postpone him?

After some thought on the matter, I develop a plan. Though it seems a little weak and very much insane, I have to try it.

Silently, I slip out of the room and into the control center. If he sees me, I'll just tell him that I want him so stay with me until I fall asleep, but what I really need is to get that damn screwdriver. Once I secure the sonic pain-in-the-ass, I have to hide somewhere nearby so that when the Doctor comes to check on me, which I'm certain he will, I can slam the door and lock him inside.

Without a hitch, I reach the control room. His jacket is resting on the back of the battered old chair, where I know he has the screwdriver hidden amongst the interior pockets. Before long, I find the object that I'm looking for along with the psychic paper. Now it's time to hide.

A door down from the room that the Doctor brought me to earlier, I wait, fighting with the energy that claws at my insides. Sometimes I cry out from the pain, but I don't worry about it too much—he'd expect it. Finally, I hear footsteps coming down the hall and a door creak open on its hinges.

I jump out of my hiding place and slam the door to the room the Doctor just stepped into—my room—and use the sonic screwdriver to lock it in place.

"I'm so sorry, but I can't let you go by yourself!" I yell so he can hear through the steal door. I hear him pound against the other side.

"No, let me out right now! Alexia! Right now!" He screams franticly, but I'm already running down the hall and out the doors of the TARDIS.

Outside, I see the swirling, luminescent patterns of Time in every living organism. Pushing the mind-sight into a more physical form, I'm ecstatic to see that the TARDIS is now only about a twenty minute walk from the military base, compared to the two day trip it was before we returned from Baltimore. That means less than ten minutes if I sprint. Energy in the form of blistering pain slows me down every few minutes, sometimes crippling me altogether, but I reach the tree line surrounding the base in about eight minutes. I pause to take a breath and watch as a golden puff of energy-fog escaped from my mouth.

Another brutal grip of agony settles over my new cells and I drop to the ground. Every fiber of my being begs me to allow my eyes to close, to drift off into the oblivion of sleep. Not yet. I have to get that tea!

Once the pain ebbs away into a dull thud, I walk up to the guard. He'd new; I've never seen him before. In my mind's eye I see every aspect of his life—his birth, his childhood, his current life, and every possible way that he can die. I see every person he has ever or will ever come into contact with, how they affect his life and how he affects theirs. I see everything about him that ever was, is, and ever could be. By stripping my old body, I had also stripped myself of all the blockades that kept me from seeing with the true eyes of a Timelord. Now, with this new body and these new eyes, I could see it all again.

"Hailey Jones." I say, flashing him the psychic paper and shoving past him.

I rushed along the blacked-out halls of the underground, whistling the first tune that I can think of. Vaguely, I wonder why they never use candles to light the place, until I remember that candles weren't around since the 23rd century. Pushing the thought aside, I find myself at the kitchen, which is lit by a generously-sized cooking fire. I see the same kind procession of Time in the Cook as I did the guard.

"Tea! I need tea!" I tell the cook, a fit man with a balding scalp. He looks at me a bit surprised and I realize my tone is harsh. "I'm late for my shift and I'm practically sleep walking." I rush out the explanation. The cook nods as though he's been in this predicament before and hastily makes up a cup.

"Are you okay, mam?" He asks, edging towards me with the cup. I feel sweat rolling down my face and I have my arm clamped over my stomach. So much raw energy that it's chewing up my innards like human flesh in a vat of acid.

I snatch the cup from the man's hands and quickly chug the hot liquid. Almost immediately, I feel the effect of the tea. The burning heat and gnashing pain within me fades away like the tide going out to sea—and I feel _GREAT!_

"Yeah, never been better!" I say a little too cheerily, looking around the fire-lit room. "You you have any cereal? I love cereal." Without waiting for a response, I begin looking around the kitchen, opening cabinets and draws until I finally find some cereal.

I make a quick bowl and eagerly dig in. One mouthful and I'm spitting it out, all over the floor. The cook makes a disgusted face mirroring my own.

"This is nasty. I hate cereal…Hmm. You have any pop tarts? I really like pop tarts." And again, I search through the kitchen and quickly find what I'm looking for.

Once I have the breakfast pastries, I leave, not bothering to try them first. "Thanks, have a nice day!" I say before bolting out the door.

As I make my way back to the TARDIS, I notice that this body is much quicker and more agile than the last as I dodge trees and leap over fallen logs.

The TARDIS is right where I left it. Smiling to myself, I run inside and to the room that I locked the Doctor inside. Using the sonic screwdriver, I unlock the door before pushing it open.

"Miss me?" The gleeful feeling and the smirk on my face instantly evaporate once I take in the expression on the Doctor's face.

He is not just mad—he's _pissed._

"What in the bloody Hell was that!" He screams at me and the bit of rage in his voice makes me flinch back. His brows are furrowed together and his jaw is clenched into a snarl. "You can't just go running off! What the Hell were you thinking?"

My eyes meet his milky-chocolate ones. Tears spring into my eyes, part in fear, but mostly at the thought that I'd lose him again. His scowl softens as he pulls me into a hug. I hear the steady thundering of his heart, evidence of his strong life force, and though his body is still ridged, I can feel the anger and worry seeping out and away from him.

"I couldn't let you go without me. I couldn't risk losing you again." I mumble into his shirt. "But now, I can go with you! I had tea. I'm better now!"

He pulls away from me and stares into my eyes, searching my soul for something that I don't know. After what feels like eons, he lets out an exasperated sigh and slowly nods his head. "Fine, but stay by my side and _don't go wandering off._" I agree.

"Now, first things first. About those wildfires, I just realized; they don't have any _fire _about them."


	10. The Wildfire Without Any Fire

_**DISCLAIMER:**_ I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia, the aliens, and the plot are mine.

**Author's Note:** Okay, so I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but I promise the next one will be longer and is Coming Soon! Thanks to my subscribers, favorite-ers, and reviewers! Once this story comes to an end, I will start a new Doctor Who fanfic, so stay tuned! :)

Review Replies:  
**BlueEyedDreamer97/Kris:** Good, I'm glad you get it now. That part was pretty confusing. Haha. And yeah, I wish we knew a little more about his family and how he survived Galifrey, but I guess that's part of the mystery (plus, I haven't seen any of the Doctor Who episodes from back-in-the-day yet so I could be missing some). I'm happy that you like the new Alexia. She's kind of based off how I was a few years back, before I ended up moving in with Tyrant Dad (I lived with my grandparents from 3 to 14). Lol. (:

**Chapter 10: The Wildfire Without any Fire**

"Wildfires without any fire about them?" The Doctor asks, but the smirk on his face gives away that he knows what I'm talking about. In fact, I'd bet he knew this a while back.

"Yes. Wildfire with smoke, ash, and deadly-looking flames—but no heat. It's a holographic projection. But why?" I think about it for a moment, knowing that the Doctor won't tell me even if he does know. I find that I don't want him to tell me, that I want to figure this one out on my own. Then it dawns on me and my face lights up. "It's directing me!" I say a bit too loudly.

"Directing you? I don't think so—" He begins to brush aside my idea, but I cut him with a look that demands to be listened to—damn, I'm really liking the feistiness of this new body.

"Yes, it is. You weren't here the two months that I lived in these woods on my own. I know them better than you. It's a holographic projection used to strike fear into its targets that can be used to direct the victim's path. When I started out, I was way in the south-west of the valley. When you found me, I was in the north-east. Every time I strayed too far in one direction, a wall of fire would turn me around. Every time that I tried to head back the way I came, a fire would instantly stop me. There is somewhere that I need to go, that whatever is up, in the sky, needs me. Now we have to go have a play date." I explain.

"Oh, you're good." Approval spreads widely across his beautiful features and without even noticing, I smile back, beaming with pride.

"Yeah, I know. Now let's go see what the universe has in store for us." That word, that single, wonderful, glorious word fills me with such passion and fire that I feel like a balloon just before it bursts—us. Never would I have guessed that I would be able to say that word and have it be referring to me and my long-lost husband.

Hand in hand, we exit the TARDIS and continue on our way, heading north-east. The absurdity of searching for something and not even knowing what it is doesn't deter me any; just being with the Doctor is enough to fulfill me. After hours of travel we find what we believe that we're looking for. At the end of the tree line, we over look a vast clearing. The Earth is upturned like a field being ready for planting. The sonic screwdriver tells us that this is no crop field, although I can't imagine what it could be.

"Stay here. I'll go have a look." The Doctor tells me, and while I admire his courage, I refuse to leave his side.

"No, I'm coming with you." My voice drips acid, leaving no room for argument. Silently, we glare at one another, each trying to break the others will. After what feels like eons, he finally hisses out "Fine, but stay close by."

"With pleasure." Though I don't mean it, my gleaming seems to rub my defiance in his face. I hold back the feeling and try to remove it from my face.

Carefully, we edge our way out into the dug-up clearing, stepping cautiously over the mounds of unearthed dirt. A vision comes into my mind sight:

_We stand in the clearing, about to give up and return to the TARDIS when a strange, tingling sensation rolls across my body.  
_"_Do you feel that?" I ask, but before the Doctor can reply, the surrounding wilderness gets replaced by the interior of a space—_

Before I'm able to yell out a warning, the same tingling sensation from the vision washes over me. Just like my mind sight's warning, the forest landscape gets replaced by the interior of a spaceship. I squeeze the Doctor's fingers which are still interlocked with mind, seeking comfort in their warmth.

Standing before us are strange aliens that I don't remember ever seeing. They are like some weird cross between a rat, monkey, and eagle with a rat's face, monkey's body, and huge powerful wings of the bird of prey. Unlike the creatures they resemble, the aliens are a bit bigger than the Doctor and me.

"I thought it would take forever to get you out of the way. And look, you brought a friend along with you. Don't you know that Timelords aren't supposed to interfere with the conquests of other species?" The leader of these odd people addresses me, and I know that his language is being translated in my head thanks to the wonder of the TARDIS. "Take them away." He orders a pair of guards with a wave of his claw-like paw.

Just like that, I'm pulled away from my beloved Doctor, hands held behind my back.

"NOO!" I scream, fighting my restrainers.

"Don't fight them, 'Lexia!" The Doctor yells at me as the guards holding him drag him away.

"No! No, let me be with him!" I screech, struggling against my captors regardless of the Doctor's instructions. Ignoring my thrashing, kicking, and screaming, the guards take me down several halls, down an elevator shaft, and to their prison level. They throw me into a cell. And with a press of a button, red laser beams block the only exit.

"Where is he? What have you done with him?" I demand, standing as closely to the lasers as I dare.

"He is not dead." One of the two guards says simply before turning to the warden. "This is a feisty one. If she gives you any trouble—" he looks back at me— "shut her up." My skin crawls, but not from fear.

"What about her belt? Look at all that equipment! Surely you should remove that from her." The warden stops their retreat.

"Steal is all those are made of. Cheep and worthless. They are as ancient and primitive as they are useless." The guard waves him into silence as he and his partner slip out the room and down the hall.

White-hot rage burns inside my veins, churning and becoming even more scorching once the blood reaches my twin hearts. Fierce determination settles deep with in my new cells. Nothing is going to stop me from getting what I want. I will save the Doctor and this planet even if it means incinerating these creatures. Nothing will get in my way; that is, nothing that values its existence.


	11. Creature In the Sky

**_DISCLAIMER:_** I do not own Doctor Who, but Alexia and the plot are mine.

**Author's Note**: Okay, so I know that the whole laser part is probably a bit of a stretch, scientifically speaking, but just get over it. :P  
This is the final chapter for this fanfiction, but I will be writing more for Doctor Who, so stay tuned. Depending on the reviews I receive there may possibly be a sequel. Enjoy! xD

Review Replies:  
**BlueEyedDreamer97/Kris**: Yes, I definitely think this chapter is sort of...interesting. haha.  
**Cetacea-of-Time**: Yes, I don't think harming the Doctor would go over very well with Alexia. She's a badass that won't think twice to avenge him.

**Chapter 11: Creatures In the Sky**

Think, I demand myself. There has to be some way that I can get out of this cell without starting the alarm. That's the first step—escape. Then I have to figure out where the Doctor is, why these aliens are here, and what they are planning to do. Stifling a sigh—this whole thing is just so daunting—I start off with the first problem. Escape.

Lasers, daggers, tonfa swords, virtual map-reader, Hero Seal, and other military field gadgets are all that I have at my disposal. What was that old Earth saying? Oh, yeah—when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. So, with these few things, how can I get out of here? The red lasers glare me right in the face. Hmm…lasers, nothing but highly focused rays of light. Light is a form of energy, which has many different colors. Colors reflected in a prism create a rainbow. Colors are reflective…and so is light. Light is reflective. Metal is also reflective. Metal reflects light. Steel reflects light.

That's it! _Steel reflects light! _Triumph washes over me in a great, energizing flood. Cautiously, I remove a dagger from the interior of my leather jacket. It's one of my least favorite, but it still kills me to sacrifice it. Edging as silently as I could towards the wall of red laser beams, I hold out the shiny dagger.

My hand trembles slightly, ready to be pulled back swiftly if it gets shocked or burned. The tip of the steel dagger slices between a beam of red light— breaking its connection to the floor, the light shoots back upward at an angle. I feel a brilliant smile overtake my expression. This is perfect! If only I could figure out how to get hid of the warden that blocks the doorway to the only corridor.

With a plan half hatched, I leap into action. As quietly as I can manage, I slide one of the tonfas free of their sheaths; the singing hiss of the metal as it slides away from its captor sets my blood humming. Holding the sword parallel to the ground, I slide it between the red lasers, creating a space in the beams that I step through with ease.

For a short time, I can freeze the warden to his spot using my telepathic abilities—it's basically the same as hypnosis. Then I walk over and link us into a mind probe, pressing my index and middle fingers to his temple, to make him unconscious. I help his body gently slope to the cool floor.

Slipping out of the prison area, I slink down the hall, forcing my footsteps into the silence of the dead. I keep my ears strained for any clue that something has gone amiss. Farther down the hall, I here two pairs of feet walking in my direction. My hearts start pounding, shooting adrenaline into my veins. Desperately, I scan the area around me. There are small alcoves along the walls with control panels, but the closest one is a good sprint away. My eyes travel up, not that I was thinking about it. Above me, I can tell that the ship is missing some work, for bare tubes and pipes are exposed. Luck must be on my side.

I leap as high as I could, but my hands can't quite reach the pipes. Panic begins to rise up in my chest—the aliens are just around the corner! With another few frantic jumps, I finally grasp the elusive pipe. I latch on with my other hand and pull myself up. With my feet, I hold up my lower body so that it doesn't hang. Clamped to the pipes upside-down, I can tell that there is just enough room above the pipes to squeeze my body into. Struggling to shift myself, I finally end up laying on top of the pipes, body mostly hidden. Just in time, too, because the two aliens pass by underneath, talking about how they both think that they deserve a raise and how they should bring it up once they return home. They sound almost ironically human.

Perched in my precarious, position, I reach out with my mind to try to find the Doctor. Something seems to be blocking me from him, although I can still feel his presence somewhere in the large spaceship. Locking onto it, I slam my presence into his, demanding to be heard.

_Doctor! Are you hurt? _I communicate telepathically with him.

_No, I'm fine. Where are you? I'm coming to find you!_

Footsteps running down the hall below me sever me from the link. My body freezes, not daring to breathe.

_Where are you? _The Doctor is back in my head, demanding my attention.

_On top of the pipes._

_What? What pi—Oh._

The footsteps that had just passed come back. I risk the chance to jump down from my safety point. Guess who I land on? The Doctor. We both crash to the ground in a heap before scrambling back to our feet.

Our eyes lock, his chocolaty brown ones searching mine for any sense of distress. All he finds is overwhelming relief. He seizes me in a bone-breakingly-tight embrace, then pushes me back to look at me again.

"Run." He whispers, so quiet that I more so interpret the movement of his lips than actually hear the words. With our hands intertwined, we bolt through the corridors.

I have no clue where we are going, and I just follow the doctor blindly; hoping that he knows what he's going. With my pounding hearts and frantic state of mind, the seconds seem like hours. After several of those second-hours, we find a cubby space to hide in. It's a tight fit, but neither of us comments on it—there's definitely not going to be any complaints from me.

His body feels so warm pressed against mine in the tiny enclosure, and I can hear the rapid beating of his two hearts. His hand crushes mine in a death grip, not daring to let up in the slightest. As I fight to shove these thoughts aside—this _so_ is not the place—his free hand cups my cheek, drawing my face towards his. Our lips barely a breath apart, he mumbles an urgent "I love you", before pressing his soft lips against mine. The kiss is electric; ice and fire sizzling together, filling me with the whole of his warmth and desire—desire to live, to survive, to make it out of here with this wonderful, brave, strong-hearted man.

Before I can say any thing, or tell him how much I love him, too, he throws open the door to our hide out, dragging me with him down the hall. We reach a huge room, filled with the menacing creatures. It's a communications room. At our disruptive entrance, they all turn, startled and pissed.

"What are you doing?" I whisper, feeling the shock of the moment hitting me.

"Trust me," is all the Doctor says. He steps forward to address the creatures. "I am the Doctor. I speak for this planet. I demand that you leave here and never return, until the end of time." Silence fills up the room, and for a split second, I think that his bold words have resonated with the people—then they all start laughing.

"In the name of the Darfrinzee Treaty, I forbid you to use this planet, its people or its resources for any needs that you may have." The Doctor yells over their shrieks of laughter. They fall silent again, listening. Their leader steps forward.

"You have no authority in the Darfrinzee Treaty! You have to place giving orders here, Lord of Time." The man sneers. "Now, guards, take them back to their cells and shut them up." The man turns around again, back to his business.

For some reason, this small gesture sets my blood on fire. No one turns there back on the Doctor or me. And, certainly, no one disrespects my husband. Releasing the Doctor's hand, I step forward.

"Listen here, Rat-Face, you _will _leave this planet. And you _will _leave it in peace. Now, I'm going to be nice and allow you to go off without any casualties, so I suggest that you do as the Doctor tells you." My voice burns with the same ferocity and malice as the rest of my body.

"Alexia, don't!" The Doctor yells, but both the rat king and I don't pay him any mind.

"You dare threaten me?" The rat leader spins on his heels to face me. I don't back down.

"Do you need me to repeat myself?" I challenge. The leader stares at me for a while.

"Silence the Lady of Time!" He demands.

Instinctively, my hands reach for the hilts of my tonfa swords. In a sharp hiss of metal being released, I extract the swords, twirling them furiously before me. They create a singing blur of steel shielding. Guards fire shots at me, but their lasers prove useless against my steel weapons. Stupidly, they keep firing, but their leader sees the flaw in his plan to silence me for all eternity.

"The man! Get the man!" Yells the Rat King. Lava erupts through me at the threat. Keeping the blades spinning in front of me, I walk across the room to the leader. I keep taking steps closer and closer to him until I have him trapped in a corner.

Quick as a strike of lightning, I bring my swords to a frozen halt so that I can get myself behind the lead rat-creature. With him as a living shield, I hold my blades crisscrossed in front of his chest. He is pinned between deadly steel and the pounding rage of a lover. Across the room, the Doctor is in the same predicament as the Rat Leader—pinned between a guard and a laser pistol.

We have reached a stalemate. They kill the Doctor, I kill the Rat King.

"You let him go, and I will let your leader go." My voice rings out with authority contradictory to my petite size.

"How can we trust you? If we release him, you will kill our Captain!" the rat-man that holds the Doctor hostage yells out. There is such rage in his voice. I can tell by the looks of the faces around me that this Captain is a highly regarded being.

"Touché. Then we must come to an agreement." I go quiet, thinking what can be done. Finally, I decide that the only thing I can do is probe the Captain's mind, search it for something that can be used in my favor. Though it is rude, I have no other choice. "Sorry," I whisper in the leader's ear and I feel his body go ridged. He thinks I'm going to kill him.

Instead, I enter his mind, pushing past the panic that is settled within. Anything; that's what I'm looking for, anything that can help me save the Doctor. And the planet, if possible. With surprising ease, I find what I'm looking for. Daughter. He has a daughter, the only one of his family that is left. Xyzl is her name.

"Your daughter, Xyzl. What do you think she will say when she finds out that you lead an entire planet to its destruction? Do you think she will praise you? Your sweet, lovely daughter—the only family that you have left. What will she say when she finds out what you did? That you took two of the only Timelords left, and you tore them apart. How will you explain to her that, two people who finally found each other after centuries of thinking the other was dead, died at your hands? How can you explain that to her? Lovely, beautiful little Xyzl. What will you say when you tell her that you took two people that are just like you and her—the last of your family—and tore them apart? Killed them, just when they found one another?" I say gently in his ear, and suddenly I understand why he is here, after this planet.

"Can you tell her that in order to get revenge, you attacked a completely innocent planet? That just so you and her won't have to be alone in your suffering, you are willing to destroy the lives of over seven billion people? What will Xyzl say?"

After a long pause, the captain answers me: "She will not find out."

"Are you so sure? Because it seems that you have forgotten what you were doing just before my husband and I burst in on your little party." Long silence. "Look," I whisper in his ear, turning him to the wall to our left. A huge screen fills the entire wall. A young face of a little girl, the same creature as the rat-looking people, stares in horror at the scene before her.

"Xyzl!" The Captain yells, shocked.

"Daddy, this is what you do?" The young creature's voices matches the visibility of her broken heart. "But, why?" Glowing blue tears flow from her eyes.

"No, sweetie, please don't cry." The captain pleas.

"You know, I had a child once, too. Two of my youngest I watch die right in front of me. I couldn't reach them in time. The Dalek blew up their school, and I had to watch as the life was drained from their tiny, innocent bodies. Do not let that happen to anyone else. Leave this planet, give them back their power. If you don't, it will be Gallifrey all over again. This globe is on the verge of war, and it is all your fault."

"Why, Daddy?" Demands Xyzl.

"Let me have my life back. Let me give you yours back. Let me be with the Doctor—I just found out that he's alive—and I will allow you to live to see Xyzl again."

After a long silence, the captain finally agrees. "Okay, okay. Men, let the Timelord go. We will return the Lord and Lady back to Earth, and then we will go home." The crew cheers; obviously, they haven't seen their families in a long time. I turn to the creature at the control helm.

"You there, cut the feed." I order. He obeys.

I look the captain in the eyes, searching his soul. So much furry and pain—something that I understand so well. He lost everything, everything but his daughter. Now I understand that part of the reason that he wanted others to suffer is to avenge the family he has lost and to honor his daughter. But this, this destruction is not what she wanted. She did not want her father to kill innocent people.

I lower my weapons, knowing that the Doctor's life is no longer threatened—this man will not betray the wishes of his beautiful daughter.

"I know what you went through. I was in your shoes—I _am _in your shoes. All I have left is that man, and just a few weeks ago, I didn't even have that. So, I understand what you're going through. Let me let you this: Go back to her. Go back to Xyzl. She needs her father to be with her, not across the galaxy." My voice is tender with empathy.

"Across the universe, actually." Startled by how close his voice is, I spin around. As my eyes meet his, my spirit sings. He reaches out for my hand and I grab his eagerly. My lost lover, who isn't so lost after all.

"Yes, I am very far from home." The captain sighs, and suddenly all the weight of his years show on his frame. I lower my defenses, allowing my mind sight to open, to see the truth of this man's timeline. There is such sorrow in the creature's memories. War, battles, and blood shed. I force the images away, their raw gruesomeness reminding me so much of the last days of Gallifrey.

"Release the electrical dampers. Prepare to exit the planet's atmosphere and check the warp drive engines." The captain orders his crew before turning back to us. "What are your names?"

"I am Alexia, and this is—"

"The Doctor." He interrupts me, and I glance at him questioningly. He ignores my inquisitive look.

"I thank you, Alexia and The Doctor, for showing me the truth. We will beam you back down to Earth." The Rat-creature bows his head respectfully before the tingling of the teleport engulfs me.

A blink of an eye later, an we are standing in the forest again, right in from of the TARDIS. Together, we walk into the machine of time and space.

"Did you ever find out why they were here? What they wanted?" I ask.

"It was a sort of game they like to play. Going to strange planets, ones that are at war, or about to be, and do something to escalate the tensions. Then watch as the people brutally slaughter one another, all the while controlling what goes on as if it where merely a chess tournament. They are a species of hunting and war." The Doctor answers, making himself busy at the circular helm of the TARDIS.

I watch him for awhile, considering him. The Doctor is what he insists on being called. Just a title that says nothing about him, yet everything at the same time. Just a title—something to hide behind. A title that blocks him from hearing who he really is. A title that holds off the guilt of war and the murder that comes with it. A title that wards off the sorrow of the ones he has lost. By refusing to tell others his name, he protects himself from hearing who he really is.

I feel great melancholy for him, for the idea that he cannot face himself due to the overwhelming failure he feels. But I do not look on him any less than when I first found that I was in love with him. He is still the same man, once you take away the haunting memories.

"The life I live is a dangerous one." He intrudes on my thoughts. I meet his expectant gaze. "I save other planets, just like what happened here. Only it can get even more risky at times—well, most of the time. It is not safe. If you do not want to stay, I will—"

"As long as you want me, I will be by your side. Never will I allow myself to lose you again, because if I do not have you, if I am not with you, than I am already dead." I say firmly.

"Well, that might be a problem because, when it comes to you, I am a greedy man." He smirks at me.

"And I a greedy woman." My expression matches his.

I stride across the TARDIS towards him and he envelops me in a tight hug. I feel the heat of his body meld into mine. We are as one. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing will ever bring our love to an end.

Locked in the embrace, I glance around the now familiar control room, realization dawning on me.

"You never passed your flight exam." I say, and his body goes stiff but doesn't release me. "And Papa and I took the TARDIS."

Slowly, reluctantly, he holds me back enough to look into my eyes. His hands still rest on my hips as he admits, "I stole it." Grim blankness overtakes his features. I can tell he expects me to be disappointed. "I thought you were all…dead. So I stole it, and I fled. There was nothing left for me to fight for. I refused to murder anymore people when there was nothing worth fighting for. So, I stole this TARDIS and ran." That is exactly what my Papa and I had done, minus the stealing part.

I smile reassuringly at him. "I'm glad you did."

"There was no honor in it."

"No, you are wrong. There is nothing but honor in it. Instead of killing, you said 'No'. It only would have been foolish if you were to have stayed."

We stand there, holding onto one another, each staring into the other's eyes. Finally, after centuries of waiting, here we are. The Doctor leans down and presses his soft lips onto mine. The kiss is everything a kiss should be: bliss, hunger, desire, hope, courage, soul, and bravery. It is a promise of what is to come—life, shared together.

"I love you," I say to him for the first time in over two hundred years, and finally, for once, I know it will not be the last. I know that there will be many more "I love You"s to come.


End file.
